


Pale Blossom

by phoenixreal



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blow Jobs, Closeted, Domestic Violence, Drug Addiction, Drug Dealing, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Gang Rape, Gang Violence, M/M, Physical Abuse, Prostitution, Protective Grimmjow, Rape, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Recreational Drug Use, Seme Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, Sexual Identity, Submissive Ichigo, Survivor Guilt, Uke Kurosaki Ichigo, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-01-07 12:54:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 64,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1120053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixreal/pseuds/phoenixreal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ichigo Kurosaki lost his mother at a young age, and he found comfort in a childhood friend. After what feels like forever of loving one woman with all his heart, he finally decides to propose. The reaction isn’t what he expects, and he finds himself in the hands of a blue haired godson of an urgent care doctor and his family services sister for the night after Tatsuki ends up giving him a concussion. He finds himself drawn into a world where he matters, and where people that care about him don’t hurt him. As he becomes comfortable in a double life, a part of his life that has slept for years awakens, and Ichigo finds out that there is something about him that makes him special, a chemical only his body can synthesize called White.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Confused and Concussed

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Notes  
> From Beverly…With Love
> 
> This is an alternative universe fanfiction. Characters are placed in a world of my own creation. In some cases, the characters and their personalities have been altered to fit the situation. Because this is a yaoi fanfiction novel, characters and their sexualities as well was genders may have been altered. 
> 
> Warnings
> 
> This is a hardcore yaoi fanfiction. This is rated MA. This contains explicit sexual content. This story includes domestic violence, violence, and rape. This story also contains scenes of a graphic sexual nature. This story is not intended to be read by individuals under the age of 18.
> 
> Disclaimer  
> I do not claim ownership of any part of the Bleach universe or of the Bleach characters. Tite Kubo owns this amazing world; I am simply playing within it. Original elements do belong to me. There is no copyright infringement intended and I in no way make money from writing or posting this work of fanfiction.

* * *

* * *

 

The sun sat vibrant in the sky.  Only a few wispy clouds decorated the sky in a nearly artistic looking painting of blue and white vibrancy.  The buildings stretched to the sky in what appeared to be some vain attempt to reach the heavens above.  Of course, those within the buildings were far too busy to pay attention to such trivial matters as the status of the early summer sky.  However, the young man standing outside staring at the sky took the time to look and commit the scene to memory.  A special day deserved to be committed to memory.  Today was perhaps the most special day of his life.  Ichigo Kurosaki was twenty years old in a few weeks, and he was going to do something today that took all of his courage and heart to do.  He was going to ask his longtime girlfriend Arisawa Tatsuki to marry him.

It really had little to do with want or desire, though, if Ichigo had really thought of it.  Their relationship had never been about that sort of thing.  From the days when they were children until now, it was just expected of them to be together.  It was always them.  Before his mother died, they played and fought together at the dojo, and afterward, she’d been the only one to treat him normally.  She’d always bested him in the dojo, though, after all she was always a better martial artist than he was, but he always wondered if things would have been different if he hadn’t been injured and kept from advancing in martial arts.  He sighed.  Yes, today he would ask her.  He loved her, of course he did.  Who else was he supposed to love?  She told him they were girlfriend and boyfriend when they were thirteen, and that was that.

He opened them and looked down at the small box in his hand.  Inside, it contained a small diamond solitaire.  He’d saved for the last six months, a few dollars here and there that neither of them would miss at his overnight grocery stocking job.  It was small, and the clarity wasn’t great, but it was what he could pull together and still surprise her with.  He just wanted to show her that he loved her so much, and appreciated her for everything she had done.  She had kept him together when he was falling apart, and she kept him on the best path for their future every day of their lives together.  Everything else didn’t matter, only the good things, only the good times, he thought nodding purposefully to himself as he took the stairs in the apartment building two at a time.  Maybe if she saw how much he loved her, despite all the things that went on, she’d understand, and maybe she’d be happier.

“Arisawa?” he called, opening the door.

Silence met him.  He had been hoping she’d been home from class already.  He didn’t have a lot of time before he had to go to work this evening.  He worked overnights at a local grocery store doing the stocking and cleaning.  He really didn’t get much sleep, mostly he slept between his day classes, but he didn’t mind.  It let Tatsuki concentrate on her own work, and that was what Ichigo was there for, to help her.  He owed her so very much for what she put up with out of him.  He was far from the perfect boyfriend, and she deserved better, really she did.  He had no doubt that he was lucky for having her accept him as he was.

She came out of the bedroom and fixed him with a dark glare.  He flinched unconsciously because that glare was always a bad sign for him.  Maybe it wasn’t a good time.  “What do you want?” she snapped at him, her eyes narrowing in the way that Ichigo knew was a very, very bad sign.  She was in a foul mood, and if he didn’t miss his guess, it was one that stemmed from her speaking with her mother.

Tatsuki was unpredictable, Ichigo knew.  Her moods changed so quickly that sometimes he wondered if there was something wrong with her.  She would go for being happy and talkative to screaming at him for something he didn’t have any control over.   Early in their relationship it had scared him a bit, until he came to realize that it was simply the way she was.  She was a changeful person, he told himself.  He loved her anyway.  It meant that no matter what, Ichigo never knew what mood she’d be in, and her moods impacted her reactions to him greatly.

“Nothing, I just wanted to see you before class, Arisawa,” he said, hiding the box behind him.  He hoped she didn’t notice because in this mood, his marriage proposal would not only be denied, he would likely end up bruised at the very least.  This type of mood invariably led to violence.

She moved, fast though, and was standing in front of him a second later.  Her eyes were hard, and Ichigo, though taller than her by a couple inches, felt tiny.  He tried to step back but reached around and wrenched his arm painfully from behind him.  She pried his hand pen, nails digging into his skin painfully and pulled the box from his hand.  She shook her head and frowned at himShe flicked the box open and stared at it.

“S-sorry, I was going to wait since you seem upset today…B-but…” his statement was ended with a solid, fast punch to his abdomen, doubling him over in immediate pain. 

He should have expected that with her mood today.  She was top of the list of tournament fighters in the area, easily, and her first response was to strike.  Ichigo remembered to breathe and tightened the muscles for the second blow.  She never hit only once, she hit until her opponent was down.  Ever since they were kids it had been this way.  He ended up flat on his back between the back of the couch and the coffee table after another blow and was looking at her with watery eyes.

“You bought a ring?  You think I’d ever actually marry you?  You’re stupider than I thought, you’re lucky I let you live with me.  It should be enough,” she said, pressing a foot into the side of his neck.  “You wasted money on this?  Take it back and bring me whatever you bought it with.  Not much since it’s a cheap piece of crap, obviously.  I’ve seen better diamonds on hobos in the street, you poor excuse for a man.”

She punctuated the thought by kicking him right in the jaw, sending him rolling over, bouncing his head off the coffee table with the sudden movement. Stars exploded in his vision and he felt something slick running down the back of his neck. He gasped, blood filling his mouth and wondered why he hadn’t expected this reaction yet again.  He was so stupid.  Why would she marry him?  He wasn’t worth being married to; after all, he was barely worth having as a boyfriend.  He gathered himself up though as quickly as he could and nodded to her, leaving without bothering to clean his bleeding lip, or even checking for the damage she’d caused this time before he was out the door.  She said to return the ring, so that’s what he’d do.

He stood for a moment outside the doorway, ignoring the blood dripping down the front of his shirt from his split lip.  _Don’t ever fight with girls, that’s just not what good boys do!  Sparring and practicing, that’s one thing, but don’t ever hit in anger, no matter what!_ His mother’s voice rang in his head like it was yesterday.

_But mama, she hit me first!_

_I don’t care!  She can hit you all she wants, you don’t hit back!  Good boys do not hit girls, Ichigo!_   He shook the memory away.  He’d been seven, maybe.  I’m a good boy, mom, he thought to himself.  I’m a good boy, right?

He walked away, running a hand through his thick, orange hair.  He was a fighter himself, leanly muscled and lithe.  He was fast on his feet.  Yet, here he was, his longtime girlfriend taking out her frustrations on his body. He told himself that she needed it.  He told himself things were rough with school.  She was, after all, a pre-law student.  He deserved it, of course he did.  If he wasn’t so stupid, he wouldn’t make her angry. She told him that all the time.  If he would just listen and do what he was told, things would be different. When they slept together, she was aggressive, too, but she allowed him to control the situation, at least, he thought she did.  She was his first and he was her first.  He thought surely that like him, she’d never known another lover’s touch.  Why would she?  He’d never been with another lover.

He was jarred out of his thoughts as he thumped into a very solid body.  He stumbled back and realized his ears were ringing a bit for some reason.  He glanced up to see a guy several inches taller than him and twice as broad staring at him with deep blue brows knitted in confusion bordering on irritation.  He had blue hair, of all things, not that he could comment with his own bright orange locks.  He muttered something unintelligible, his lip swollen up by now making his voice come out in a mumble.  He didn’t want to get into a fight right now, he’d had enough today. The man reached out and yanked his chin up to look at his face though when he went to move away.

“The hell happened to you, man?” the blue haired guy asked. 

Ichigo thought and stammered trying to come up with an excuse, knowing he wasn’t going to tell him his girlfriend just kicked him in the face, that would sound ridiculous and he didn’t want anyone to know that happened.  He never did. So instead he shook his head free and tried to step away, only to have the guy grab his wrist again and stopped him all too easily.

“Man, you might need a stitch in that, it’s still bleeding,” he said, and Ichigo looked down to realize his shirt was drenched in blood from the split lip. 

How did he miss that?  Then something dripped in his eye, he rolled his eyes up and realized his head was bleeding.  That explained the amount of blood but was he so lost in thought he hadn’t realized he had a laceration on his scalp.  That had probably happened when he hit the table.  He reached up and pulled away a bloody hand from the back of his head.  He frowned.  The position he’d been walking in had let the blood flow straight down the back of his shirt, and he hadn’t even realized it.  Suddenly his knees were weak and he stumbled into the big guy again.

“Ah, no,” he muttered, pressing a hand to the wound on his scalp.  “Gonna be mad if I go to the ER again,” he said under his breath, trying to stagger away from the man gripping his wrist.   “S’okay, I got some butterfly in my place.”

The man frowned and shook his head.  “No way, you’re in no condition, come on, there’s a quick fix urgent care on the next block I know pretty well, they can stitch it up.”

Ichigo tried to wave it away but he was being led strongly by the stranger.  He had no idea why, but he couldn’t fight him off at the moment.  He sighed deeply as he was led into the waiting room.  The nurse behind the desk looked like she was talking to him.  He just blinked at her.  Was she speaking to him?

The blue haired man, Grimmjow Jagerjaquez by name, frowned at the orange haired kid next to him.  He was staring at the intake nurse and leaning heavily on him.  Today had been a strange day to say the least.  First off, he’d missed the movie he’d been planning on seeing because some jackoff had slashed his tires, and then on the way back to his place he ran into a stumbling, bleeding kid with obnoxiously orange hair. 

“Sir, what’s your name?” the nurse asked again patiently.  He continued to stare and then his eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped into a dead faint. Grimmjow reacted immediately and caught him before he hit the ground.

There was a flurry of motion as Grimmjow picked up the light boy, he couldn’t be more than sixteen, the thought, and followed the nurse, a woman named Nemu Kurosuchi, to the back.  He stayed by him as she cleared up the wounds and found where the blood was coming from.  She put a pressure pad on the back of his head for a few minutes until the bleeding stopped, and a few minutes later the doctor came back.  Grimmjow sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair and watched as he quickly stitched the wound on the back of his head with four stitches.  He looked him over again, and glanced at the chart, and then gave him a stimulant to wake him up. 

“Ah, Arisawa I wanna sleep in today,” he muttered, rolling his head to the side.

“Can you wake up for me?” the doctor said, a man with messy blond hair and a striped bucket hat and green doctor’s coat instead of white.  He was more than a little strange, but oh well, that was Kisuke.  Grimmjow knew the guy though and smirked.  Dr. Kisuke Urahara was eccentric as hell, but a good guy, and Grimmjow’s godfather.

Ichigo groaned, blinking rapidly, his eyes unfocused.  “Sorry, Arisawa, sorry…don’t be mad, okay?”

The strange blond doctor snapped in front of his eyes and he blinked.  “Huh?”

“There you are; can you tell me your name, kid?” the doctor asked.

He hummed.  “Ichigo Kurosaki,” he said looking around.  “Where am I?”

“This big guy here found you outside wandering around in a daze, and you have a concussion, which is why you were in such a stupor.  What happened, you look like you’ve been in a fight.”

Ichigo shook his head wearily as he tried to sit up but ended up just laying back again.  “Fell on the table, that’s all.”

Urahara exchanged looks with Grimmjow.  Neither one believed for a minute that he’d just fallen into a table.  “And the lip and the bruised ribs?”

Ichigo visibly paled, and shrugged, looking away from them.  “Dunno, when I fell, I guess.”

“Okay, well Ichigo, I’m going to get your paperwork, my name is Dr. Urahara if you need anything.  Oh, do you have someone we should call, a significant other or parent?”

Ichigo sighed and shook his head.  “Nah, don’t bother her, and my dad’s a doctor so I’m sure he’ll figure out I’ve been in here soon enough.  I can walk home when I leave, no big deal.”

Dr. Urahara frowned.  “I don’t recommend it; you need to be watched for the next twenty four hours…”

Ichigo smiled nervously.  “Ah, she’s on business, so not home anyway,” he stammered, eyes darting around the room.  Grimmjow frowned, easily catching the obvious lie.  Why didn’t he want to go home?

Grimmjow cleared his throat.  “I can keep an eye on him, Doc, I mean, what kind of asshole would I be not to after I brought ‘im in, yeah?”  He turned to him.  “You wanna stay with me so I can keep an eye on you?  My sister is there too, but she loves company.”

Ichigo blinked and frowned at the guy.  Wow, he thought.  He hadn’t gotten a good look at this guy before, probably because he was on the edge of passing out cold.  He was a very big guy, at least six foot or more and two hundred fifty pounds or more, and aside from his already noticed blue hair, he had tattoos and piercings.  He had a large tattoo on his right jaw and cheek that looked like a skeletal jaw bone.  His eyes were brilliantly blue, and he had brow piercings on both brows.  He had a single stud in the side of his nose and gauged ears.  The gauges weren’t very big, but they were plugged with ornate looking plugs depicting a panther, it appeared.  He had other ear piercings.  He had a couple lip rings and a labret that was a simple captured ball.  He was wearing short sleeves and he could see tribal looking marks coming down either arm in full sleeves with several other things in the patterns that he couldn’t recognize.  If he had run into the guy fully aware he would have never gone anywhere with him.

Ichigo tried to protest but the doctor looked at him.  “Either that or I’ll call your father to come pick you up, unless of course you’re underage, then I have to call him…” he said, arching a brow.

“No, I’m nineteen, dammit!” he blustered.  “Okay I’ll go with him, I guess.  Wait, why are you suggesting I go home with a stranger?” he blurted, staring at the doctor.

He snorted.  “Well you have the good fortune to have been dragged in here by my godson, if you must know,” he said with a smile, grinning at Grimmjow who just rolled his eyes.  “If you go with him, I can check in with you without sending you to the hospital overnight, which I will do if you refuse to go with him or someone you know.”

Ichigo sighed, defeated. “Concussion, this sucks, she’s gonna be mad now,” he muttered, thinking about how upset she’d be when he didn’t come home. Not only that but he was going to miss a night of work.  That would really make her mad, he knew. “I better call her, where’s my phone?”

Grimmjow handed the kid his phone as he chose a number, swallowing nervously.  Grimmjow kept a close eye on him as he spoke.  Something was going on and he wanted to know exactly what it was.

“Hey, Arisawa, um, I’m staying with a friend tonight, okay?  I won’t be at work.  No, no, not like that…I know, but…I can’t…If you’ll just…but….No.  No.  Okay.”  There was a long pause and Grimmjow could hear a husky female voice over the speaker.  “But, no, I won’t…but…but…”  Grimmjow frowned at the kid, arguing with whoever was on the phone.  His eyes were distant.  “It’s not like that!  I’m sorry…I just…when I fell, I hit my head and…yeah…but it gave me…. no, come on, listen a minute, I’m…  Yes it gave me a concussion, okay?”  There was a loud burst of sound from the phone.  “No, no, I got it stitched.  I’m not with my dad, okay?  Can you stop…it won’t…please…I…well, I can’t leave…th-the doctor said so!”  He looked flushed at the discussion.  “It’s either that or he’s calling pop.  Yes I know, okay, I know already!”  He sighed and clicked off the phone, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“I thought your girl was out of town,” Grimmjow said with a quirked eyebrow.

Ichigo sighed.  “Just don’t wanna go home right now,” he said, rubbing his stomach at the soreness there and looking away from the man in the room.

“Fair enough, kid,” he said, wondering just what the hell was going on with him.  Soon enough, Urahara returned frowning at the boy.

“Ichigo, you’ve had a lot of broken bones in the last couple years,” he said, frowning at the newly acquired file.  He saw the initial flinch and then Ichigo shrugged.

He smiled.  “You know, sometimes I’m clumsy, and I get in fights and stuff because of my hair, some people don’t like it.”

The doctor looked at him warily.  “You must fight a lot, Ichigo.  The last time you were seen, you had a broken collar bone, three broken ribs and a broken elbow.”

He shrugged, remembering that visit.  That had hurt a bit.  He really should have listened to the little voice in his head that told him to steer clear of Tatsuki after she lost the match at nationals, to a completely illegal move that the judges had missed.  Then he tried to comfort her.  That had been a huge mistake.  He sighed, wincing at the memory.  How could he ever bring himself to admit he’d let his own girlfriend do that to him?  He loved her, and he could take it, he was a man after all.  He was supposed to be tough for the woman he loved.  And if he wasn’t, she’d take it out on someone and get in trouble, and he couldn’t let that happen.  He owed her too much, even if she didn’t want him going out on his own with his friends.  He missed them a little, but Tatsuki was so busy that she wasn’t home a lot, and she had forbidden Ishida and Chad from coming to their apartment.

“Anyway, I’ll let my dear godson take you, and you can meet my goddaughter.  I hope you get along well, Ichigo.  If there is anything, anything at all, you want to talk about, you can come see me,” Urahara said with a soft smile at him.

With that, Ichigo was left with the charge nurse who was filling out his discharge paperwork.  He was given a gown to replace his soiled shirt and sighed.  That would never come out; he frowned at the previously light blue t-shirt.  He shoved it into the plastic bag and stood up.  The nurse came back and handed him a prescription for some antibiotics.  He took it and walked sullenly behind the guy he didn’t even know.  What the hell? He thought.  This was really weird.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Tatsuki rolled her eyes and put the phone down on the bedside table.  It was getting late and she’d raised the shades on all the windows to let the evening light into the room. 

“Stupid fuckin’ boy,” she muttered, reaching over to the other person in the bed and taking the lit joint from him and breathing it deeply.

The other occupant of the bed, a much older man with long brown hair that fell just below his chin smiled at her.  “Your boyfriend, my dear?”

She shook he head.  “Fucking stupid idiot.  He knows better than to mess with me when I’m in a bad mood.  His own fault he split is fool head open.  Now his goddamned father is going to be snooping around to see if he’s ‘okay’ again.  I swear.”

The older man nodded, watching her drag off the joint with a pleased look on her face.  She offered it back, but he shook his head.  “You know I don’t like the stuff, my dear.  But please, do enjoy.  I also brought some of my finest black tar for you.”

She smiled.  “Ah, Sōsuke, you are too good to me.  What did I do to deserve it?”

Sōsuke smiled at her and arched a brow.  “You give better head than any prostitute I employ, and your body is like satin.  How could I deny you anything, my dear?”

“Oh, I see, you just like to fuck me,” she said, sliding over and climbing on top of him.

“But of course, my dear, but I also find you incredibly alluring and charming,” he said with a smile.

“Fuck,” she moaned as she mounted his already hard cock.  “You just fucking came, Sōsuke, are you sure you’re not on Viagra or something?”

Sōsuke gripped her hips and smiled.  “I’m a virile man.  And I’m not that old, dear, I am only fifteen years older than you.  That is not old, by any means.”

“Ah, fuck,” she moaned again and gave him a sultry glare.  “You are so fuckin’ good, Sōsuke, I can’t even begin to explain it…”

Sometime later, the impeccably dressed Sōsuke Aizen left the sleeping girl in the bedroom and exited the apartment into the hallway where two of his men stood waiting for him on either side of the door.  He straightened the suit jacket and nodded to each of them.  The man on the right was a short man with dark hair and vivid green eyes, the one of the right an incredibly thin and tall man with a bandana across one eye.  Together they left the building.

“Have fun, boss?” the tall one asked.

“Of course, she’s a halfway decent lay, but she has a horribly dirty mouth,” he said, getting into the back of the limo as the green eyed man opened his door. “There is something undeniably unladylike about a woman that curses like a man.”

The tall one got in beside him while the green eyed one got in front to drive.  “Nothin’ wrong with a dirty mouth as long as she’s good at usin’ it right when ya got it stuffed.”

Sōsuke smiled.  “I wish I could say that.  She serves a purpose, and she believes she is important, when in the long run she is simply a means to an end.  Have you checked the cameras in the apartment lately?”

“Yah, nothin’ out of the way.  Boy, though she put a fuckin’ beatin’ on that boyfriend a’hers today.  Ya think she’ll go too far before your plan goes into action?” he said, looking out the window.

“Up the monitoring of the apartment.  We already know he’s restricted to staying in there if he isn’t at work or school.  Make sure she doesn’t kill him before his usefulness comes to fruition,” he said with a sigh.  “I don’t mind that she beats him, makes him easy to manipulate later on, but she can’t kill him.  It would ruin the entirety of the plan, and I cannot have something I’ve worked on for nearly eleven years destroyed by a woman, again.”

“So that’s why ya fuck her, keep her in line?” the bodyguard asked, frowning.

“That and to keep her under control.  I swear she’ll do anything for dope.  Make sure you and Ulquiorra keep her happy while I’m away overseas.   I’ll be out of communication, just make sure you answer to her every whim until I return.  But make sure the boy doesn’t die.  I need him alive,” he said, and got out of the car and walked toward a private jet.

“Make sure he doesn’t die,” Ulquiorra muttered from the front.  “With that unpredictable bitch, how are we supposed to do that, Nnoi?”

He shook his head.  “Dunno, but better do what the boss said, or we’ll be workin’ a fuckin’ street corner by the end of the week when he gets back.  Thanks, but I in no way am gonna be some hairy fuckers rent boy.  Come on, let’s get back.”

The limo pulled away and Aizen watched it go.  Something was coming, he knew.  The end of his plans was coming.  It had been so long since he felt this freedom and the knowledge that his work would not all be for nothing.  No one would stop him this time.  Not some stupid doctor with a penchant for saving people who shouldn’t be saved, and not some stupid woman who stepped between him and his ideal research subject.


	2. Blue and Green

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry, if you have read this before, I'm doing a total rewrite, so please enjoy my new version of this story.

 

Nel knew that when her godfather’s mobile came across her caller ID that something very interesting had to be happening.  Her godfather rarely called during this time of the day, mostly because he was at work more than anything.  She smiled to herself as she tapped the button to connect the call.  Her uncle was eccentric, and he often surprised her with the strangest things.

“Nel, my dear, are you well?” he asked, and she could tell he was trying to sound like he was his normal, happy self. 

Dr. Kisuke Urahara always appeared to be a happy person, smiling even in the most dire of circumstances.  Kisuke had become Nel and Grimmjow’s godfather when they were both small, a close friend of their father.  When their parents both were killed in a terrible house fire when they were in their early teens, Kisuke had taken them in and put them through high school and college.  The think was, he was never their father.  He never tried to be.  He treated them like he always had, and he helped them when they asked.  They were allowed their own mistakes of course, and between the two of them, her brother had made more than enough for both of them, and not in the tattoos and piercings he’d gotten over the years.  Those were actually the least of her brother’s past.

“Well, Kissy,” she said, using her nickname for her godfather.  He would only tolerate it from her, of course.  “What’s wrong?”

“You aren’t easily fooled, are you?” he asked, his voice dropping in volume and in a way that she knew there was indeed something wrong.  It was strange, the man’s whole demeanor changed when faced with something that really bothered him.

She snorted.  “Your brother brought in an interesting patient, one I thought you would be very interested in.”

Her interest was piqued now.  “What is it? Is it one of my kids?”

“He was, until he turned eighteen last year,” he answered.  “The Kurosaki boy.”

Nel gasped.  She had tried so hard to uncover that kid’s abuser.  It had been clear as day to her and the school staff that had called her in on the case. Nel was a social worker for the state, and child abuse cases were her area.  The boy had been fourteen when she’d been called by a dear friend at his high school, a woman named Yoruichi Shihōin.  They’d met in grad school, Nel getting her social work degree, and Yoruichi her school counseling degree.  She’d told her that he often came to school bruised and a couple times with a split lip.  He showed no other signs, though.  He was vibrant and charismatic.  But she was worried because he had started to recede from his friends in the months before she was called and spent all his free time with his girlfriend, a girl named Arisawa Tatsuki.

She remembered watching them, and seeing nothing strange in the boy’s behavior.  She met with his sisters who were very pleasant and gleefully talked about their dad, and when asked if they ever fought, they said, all the time!  Worried, she asked why they fought, and the twin girls informed her that their dad play fought with him, and dad usually got the short end of their fights, whining and crying on the floor after being thrown by his son.  She found that his dad was a doctor, and one that her godfather knew very well.  After a long discussion with the father, she could find no reason to suspect him, as he was just as worried as the teachers.

For the next four years, she watched as he was repeatedly caught with various injuries.  One or two had sent him to the hospital claiming clumsiness and getting into fights with other students, but no one remembered him fighting at all.  The whole thing was strange, and as she checked in, his friends had all become very distant.  When he turned seventeen he moved out from his dad’s house, with his permission, and got an apartment with his girlfriend.  After that, he was never out without her, it seemed.  At eighteen, of course, the case was off her desk, and she wondered if she could have done something more for the kid.  That had been the end summer before last, but she still caught herself thinking about him.  She always dwelled on the kids she couldn’t help more than anything.

“What happened?” she asked, concerned.  It was not unusual for victims of long term abuse to be hospitalized for serious injuries suddenly when the abuser lost control.

“Well, Grimmjow came in, saying he found him outside bleeding, and he passed out in the waiting room.  I recognized him from your description, the bright orange hair was a dead giveaway, and then took his information.  He had a concussion on the back of his head that he claimed came from falling into the coffee table.  But when I asked about his bruised ribs and split lip he shrugged saying he must have got it while falling down.  Of course, we both know that’s impossible to hit all three points on the body at the same time.  He refused to call his dad or his girlfriend, saying he wanted to go home alone.  I convinced him if he did that I’d make him stay overnight, so I offered that he could stay overnight with you and Grimm to watch for his concussion.”

She smiled, rolling her yes.  “A little unorthodox, eh Kissy?  And you realize illegal?” she said.

“Yeah, well, I can’t let him go after the conversation I heard on the phone.  When I told him it was that or the hospital, he called his girlfriend.  I think I’m pretty sure it is a domestic violence issue, Nelly.  I’m actually inclined to believe it always has been.”

She paused hearing that. “His _girlfriend_?” she said, despite her field.  She should have seen it.  She had been as blind as everyone else.

It was quite unusual to have something like this come up.  It did happen, and she knew it happened, but she herself hadn’t had a case of a girl abusing her boyfriend.  The horror stories of the situations that went around the offices were bad enough, however.  Males rarely reported abuse at all, and were even more unlikely to report being abused by a female partner.

“Nel, he was afraid to call her.  Said that she’d be mad if he was in the ER again.  Something is wrong, and I think you could try and uncover it.  His records show his last visit was almost a year ago, with a broken collar bone, three broken ribs and broken elbow.  The record indicated the doctor was suspicious and reported it, but he claimed he’d been jumped in an alley on his way home from work, and got his wallet stolen.  You know as well as I do how common this is.  I see a lot of them, and they walk out of here with their abuser, and if I’m lucky I don’t see them, if I am unlucky, they come in when it’s already too late and I can’t save them.”

Nel nodded, sighing.  “Yeah, Kissy, I guess if I couldn’t help him before, I can do what I can now, but I can’t promise anything.  I don’t have power to stop him from going back, even if it is domestic violence.  You know this.  If he leaves here, we have to let him go.  It is quite bad enough that you’re forcing him to come here under duress and could very well be reported for that alone, but if we try and make him stay, we could be charged with imprisoning him.”

“Just try your best, they should be almost home by now,” he said, as though the fact that he’d done something illegal didn’t bother him at all.  Of course, it didn’t.  Her godfather saw it as a matter of the greater good.  “Bye, Nelly dear!”

She smiled, hearing the key in the lock.  “Yeah, bye Kissy.”

She looked up to see her younger brother, leading a bedraggled looking orange headed boy she recognized behind him.  He was wearing a hospital gown with a pair of dark jeans, and looking around thoughtfully. Nel recognized him; after all, it hadn’t been that long ago that his picture was in her files.    She had never actually met him herself, though, so that would make this less awkward.  What did surprise her is that he didn’t look any different at all; he still looked like a kid.

“Grimmjow, who are you dragging home today?” she exclaimed, catching her brother in a tight hug, whispering into his ear “Kissy called,” before she pushed back.

Ichigo stared at the woman, tall and busty with sea foam green hair.  What was this, the weird hair club? He thought oddly.  Of course, he had his doubts that either of them had hair naturally that color, that was too weird.  Before he could react he was in a tight hug that seemed to press directly on his bruised ribs.  Despite himself, he let out a groan of discomfort.  She couldn’t act like she knew.  So she pushed him back with a frown.

“Whatever is wrong, love?” she said, and yanked the gown open in a swift move, letting it lay open.  Nel was quite good at using the shock factor on someone like this.

Ichigo gasped, not sure how to react to this aggressive woman, cringing slightly away as she examined his torso.  There were two bright purple bruises decorating his ribcage, and several other older bruises here and there.  She arched a brow, and looked up at the sheepish look on his face.  She knew that look.  It was the look of someone who was abused and someone had uncovered it, and now they had to figure out how to explain it and stop the questions.

“Ah, I got…in a fight?” he said, his tone almost questioning whether this woman would believe his story.

“Nel, this is Ichigo, our god-pop wants us to keep an eye on him for his concussion tonight.  Needs to be woken up every two hours all night,” Grimmjow said, eyeing his sister suspiciously. 

Nel gave him a knowing wink and he got the clue.  His elder sister’s job; he assumed that was why Kisuke had went this decidedly odd route and sent the kid home with him.  Their godfather was a meddler, as they called him.  He never seemed to know when to leave well enough alone, and it often got him in trouble.  It was a good thing that both Nel and Grimmjow knew local cops as well as they did, otherwise, Kisuke would have been in trouble so often.

Nel fixed him with a look.  “Itsygo, what happened, poor thing?” she asked softly.

She was still holding him by the front of the gown, his chest exposed.  “Ah, fell into a coffee table…”

“Hum, did the coffee table also spin and smack you in the lip and the back of your head at the same time, love?” she asked thoughtfully, glancing up at his wide brown eyes.

Without thinking he muttered, “Um, sure…” 

She let him go, as though he hadn’t answered the question and headed to the kitchen.  “I’ll see if I’ve got enough to make some dinner, Grimm.  Get our guest set up on the pull out sofa, okay?”

Nel stopped in the kitchen to breathe more than anything.  She’d known, but how could she have speculated the kid had been abused by another kid his age?  Seriously, this didn’t happen often, and even less often did it get reported for just this reason.  No way was he going to tell her he let his girlfriend beat on him.  That just wasn’t a thing guys did.  It was hard enough to get women and girls to report domestic violence.  Child abuse she could take action with or without permission if she had proof, but this…  She sighed.  This was going to get sticky if she was going to help him.  She pulled out her phone and ran through the numbers until she found the one she was looking for.  It had been a while since she’d called them up for help with something like this.

“Hey, Byakuya, you and Renny busy tonight?” she asked gently.

“We had intended a quiet dinner at home,” came the stoic, and expected response. 

“Hey, that Nelly?” came the hyper voice in the background.  “Lemme talk to her!”

“Shush,” Byakuya said.  “I’m speaking now, brat.  You called for a reason?”

Nel smiled because she could hear Renji complaining in the background.  “Yeah, got a kid, domestic violence victim, and well…I could use you and Renny on it.”

There was a scoff.  “Wouldn’t one of your female acquaintances better suit the situation?”

“It would, if the victim were female,” she said quietly.

There was a long pause, punctuated by a swatting sound and a yelp from Renji.  “Dammit!” came the voice in the background.  “Yes, we will be there shortly.  If this brat can behave long enough to put clothes on.”

Nel giggled and smiled. “Of course.”  She put the phone back in her pocket and stepped out into the front, watching first.

Ichigo was stammering about how he could take care of himself.  It was quite easy to set an alarm, and his girlfriend was going to worry.  He had to do so many things…  Grimmjow was having none of it though and the boy sighed and sat down on the couch to wait as Grimmjow sat some sheets and pillows on the side table.

“Grimmy, ‘Kuya and Renny are coming by, would you go get some pizza and beer?” Nel asked cheerfully as she came out into the room.  She glanced at Ichigo.  “Um, and some soda.”

Ichigo frowned and crossed his arms.  “You don’t have to get me anything, I’m fine.  And I’m not a kid; I’ll be twenty later this summer.”

Nel’s face only betrayed the annoyance briefly.  “Love, you come here, you eat and drink with us, and that’s final!”

Ichigo felt that brief tightening in his stomach and nodded quickly, his eyes casting downward immediately.  “Yeah, okay.”

Nel turned and looked at Grimmjow with a frown. He knew that look.  He knew what she saw just then.  The kid just completely relented without a second thought when Nel had gotten forceful with him.  It was very much like it was something he did all the time.  He had a simple instinct to protect himself from someone else’s anger.   He sighed and though damned if she wasn’t right about this stuff.  He leaned over and kissed his elder sister on the head.

“Sure, sweet, you wanna see if you can find him a shirt that might fit, or sort of fit?” he said shrugging.

She turned to him, and sighed.  “Honey, Grimmjow’s clothes are gonna fall right off.  I’ll get you one of my shirts.”

He started to protest, but she was gone.  Great, now he’d be stuck in a chick shirt.  Surprisingly it didn’t really bother him that much, though.  She came back with a t-shirt that was definitely made for a woman, but looked about the right size for him.  He shrugged out of the tacky gown and slipped it on.  It was tight around his midsection and hugged tight to every one of his defined muscles.  He arched a brow, surprised that it fit him well.  It was otherwise plain black with a picture of a ram’s head on the chest.  He’d thought it would be baggy in the chest considering how big her boobs were.

“Heh, yeah, it doesn’t fit me too well, not enough stretch for the boobs in it,” she said with a chuckle, pushing her boobs up with her hands.  She smiled and looked him up and down again.  “Looks hot on you, sweetie.”

He blushed madly at the compliment and looked up.  “Don’t worry love, I don’t swing that direction,” she said with a wink.  He caught his breath than caught on.  Oh…  “Man, love, you have seriously got a body of a performer,” she said, humming as she looked him over.  Again he blushed.

She smiled.  “I know how to keep you awake; we’ll go visit my friend’s place.  He runs a microbrewery and coffeehouse and tonight, my dear, is the night they have the band in.  We can keep you up and dancing all night.  I’m sure Grimmjow, and more than one of the pretty boys down there, would spin you around the floor.”

“But I’m not…I mean, I have a girlfriend…and…” he stammered.

She arched a brow.  “Hrm, couldn’t have guessed the way you were eyeballing Grimmjow’s ass when he left,” she muttered with a grin.

He gasped and tried to stammer out of it but clamped his mouth shut again as the doorbell rang.  Okay, so the guy had a nice ass.  A really nice ass.  Much better than Tatsuki’s ass.  What was he thinking?  He wasn’t that way…he had a nice girlfriend.  Well, most the time she was nice.  Domineering, and she was good in bed.  Well, actually she wasn’t that good; she just laid there after all.  And he never left satisfied.  He looked up, his face bright red as a tall dark haired man and a man with vivid red hair came in without knocking.

“Nel, what did you do to the poor boy before we got here?” the man with the bright red hair and tattoos yelled as he shut the door behind him.  He was dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, while the dark haired man wore a suit jacket and pants with a white button up shirt.  He had an air of authority or nobility almost about him.

Nel came in.  “I think I gave him a sexuality complex.”

The dark haired man snorted.  “Leave it to you Nel, finding all the closet cases.”

Ichigo’s face burned so much he wondered if you could bleed from a blush.  He tried to stammer something, and covered his face with both hands.  He jumped as he felt someone put an arm over his shoulder.  He looked up into the dark eyes of the red-head.

“Hey, don’t worry, babe, my name is Renji Abarai, and this prim and proper bastard is my boyfriend.  What’s your name, babe?” he asked, pulling him toward the living room.

“I-Ichigo Kurosaki,” he said softly.

“How you know this incredibly brazen woman here?” Byakuya asked, sitting down on the couch rather properly and looking around with a rather sour face.

Nel came out and handed a beer to each of them, and tossed a can of coke to Ichigo.  “Grimmy brought him home from Urahara’s fix up.  Got himself a conk to the head so we are gonna make sure he doesn’t die overnight.”

“Sucks man, how’d that happen?” Renji asked, popping the top on the beer and taking a sip.

Ichigo had suddenly found the can in his hands extremely interesting.  “Um, you know, fell and hit my table,” he stammered.

“Dude, that sucks, which one?” Renji continued, sitting down beside Byakuya and leaning into him.  A moment later, Byakuya relaxed and leaned back into the sofa and draped an arm around Renji’s shoulders.

For a second Ichigo couldn’t think.  Which one had he said before?  “Um, living room, you know, coffee table,” he said after a moment realizing he’d told the truth about what table he’d hit.

Ichigo was sitting beside Renji and he smirked and gave him a playful punch to the ribs.  Ichigo winced and put his arms over his ribs protectively. “Your coffee table punch ya in the gut too?”  Renji said, arching a brow.

Ichigo chewed on his lip for a moment.  It was getting harder and harder to keep up with what he’d told the others. Shit, he was forgetting it as fast as he was telling it.  “Th-the couch, I fell into it and into the table, you know, just clumsy all the time…happens all the time…”

Ichigo shifted uncomfortably, nervously sipping the drink.  He hadn’t felt this cornered since his dad had interrogated him last time he’d been over, and he didn’t even know these people.

      “Yeah, what else you done to yourself?” Renji said, sipping his beer and resting one hand on Byakuya’s knee.  “I drink a lot and I’ve broken a great many bones being shit faced.  Couple months ago took a tumble out the front door of the bar broke my damn ankle,” he said, picking up his foot and rolling his ankle a bit.

Ichigo visibly relaxed, smiling. He didn’t notice that he let out a breath, however those present did immediately. Okay he could do this.  Comparing breaks, that was easy.  “Yeah, I was going upstairs one day and tripped up the stairs with a box, terrible, right?  And I can’t even drink yet.  Broke one of my hands that time.”

Renji snorted and Byakuya rolled his eyes as if this was common occurrence with his younger boyfriend.  “That’s the worst ya got, boy?  Let’s see, I had a compound fracture of the thigh bone once.  Fucking hurt like a _bitch_ that one did.  Rolled my motorcycle in the middle of winter.”

Ichigo smiled and thought.  What had been the worst?  “Oh I had this one time when I actually got my elbow broke, that took forever to heal up!  I think…what happened with that one?” he thought.  Shit.  He remembered what really happened.  Tatsuki had ran his elbow through the wall into a stud when she’d thrown him one night when she came home a little high from a friend’s house, same incident where his collar bone got broken.  Stupid nationals... 

“Um, car accident…” he said finally.  He grimaced.  No, that wasn’t right, he’d told the ER he got jumped in an alley and mugged.  Well, what were the chances these people would check a police report?

He missed the look between Byakuya and Nel that said they knew that what he said was complete bullshit.  Just then, though, the door opened, and the smell of fresh pizza wafted over the room, setting everyone’s mouths to watering.  Everyone dug in, Ichigo taking two small slices and curling up in the chair away from everyone else. He didn’t want to sit by Renji anymore because he was afraid he’d know too much.  He felt a presence over him and looked up to see a frowning Grimmjow.

“You’re tellin’ me you’re skinny ass is going eat two pieces and that’s all?” he said.  “I mean, hell, you need some meat on them bones, kid.”  He punctuated the thought by prodding at Ichigo’s exposed collarbone.

He started to stammer and then just blurted, “It’s all I get to eat at home.”  Shit, did he just admit that to another guy?  That sounded bad.  “I…I mean that’s all I choose to eat at home,” he muttered shoving a piece into his mouth to stop the conversation. Grimmjow frowned but sat on the couch end closest to him.

Grimmjow looked up at Nel as she came and sat down across from Ichigo in the loveseat.  “Damn, you put him in your clothes anytime, looks a fuckin’ lot better than in that crappy t-shirt he had on when I ran into him.”

“I told him that, he’s hot in that shirt!” she said with a smile.  “Told him we’d take him to Shinji’s place tonight and he’d get spun around the floor a few times.”

Ichigo had gone red once more just thinking of being around all those people and dancing.  He couldn’t imagine doing something so…so…crazy.  But he couldn’t hide the thrill it would give him.  “I work nights already,” he muttered under his breath, sipping his coke nervously.

“Well, isn’t that perfect,” Renji said brightly.  “So quit.  Come down and meet everyone tonight, and relax.  I’ll spin your perky little ass around the floor a time or two.” 

He gasped looking around. “I…I’m off tonight, I mean, I had to call in because of the whole…coffee table…I guess I could go see the place,” he said blushing madly.  


	3. Dangai Coffee House

Ichigo was nervous.  He had not been out without Tatsuki in more than a year.  Perhaps it had been more than two years.  Grimmjow once more got him into his car, a plain dark colored SUV.  Nel got in the front and off they went with Renji and Byakuya following behind them in Byakuya’s extremely sensible light blue Prius.  If there was a doubt he was gay, Ichigo had little now he thought and then giggled.  That was a bad thing to think, he thought to himself.  For some reason he thought that this group might find him making fun of Byakuya’s choice in car to be amusing though.  Something told him that it was a common occurrence.  Soon enough they pulled up in front of a large, old looking warehouse.  There was a large sign over the left hand side that read Dangai Coffee House and a large sign over the right that read Rukongai Microbrewery and Pub.  They had parked on the left.

Nel hopped out and waited until Ichigo had stepped down.  “The Dangai is open until nine, so another hour or so, then we’ll go over the Rukongai for a bit of fun,” she said with a smile.

Ichigo nodded, pulling the tight t-shirt down a bit because it was clinging to his skin.  He followed Grimmjow in and saw that the others had parked.  There were a few scattered cars, but there were far more on the other side.  He felt Renji put an arm around his back, and he glanced at him.  Renji was the only one that wasn’t a whole lot taller than him.

“Don’t worry, the band starts at ten, but let’s go meet these guys first,” Renji said with a smirk.

Ichigo was led into the coffee house and blinked.  The outside looked so dour and drab, but inside it was well lit and stylish.  As he entered, Ichigo tried to look over everything at once.  A few feet from the entrance, there was a large coffee bar with the expected accoutrements, but what made it different was the distinct décor.  It was like the place mixed a coffee shop with a library.  Behind the bar was a tall wall that went up at least six feet where the syrups and mixes were stocked easily.  Above the top of the stocked shelves, beyond the reach of anyone, were three rows shelved with books.  It did not appear to be a decoration from what Ichigo could tell, it looked like it was fully stocked with books.  Behind the bar, a very short young woman with a pair of blonde pigtails was making some sort of drink and barking orders to a much taller man with long reddish blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.  He looked amused by her fury and went about his duties.

To the left side of the bar were several wooden tables and cushioned chairs around them.  A few people sat around, drinking coffee and reading books or magazines.  The entire lefthand wall was lined with a cushioned bench that had padding on the wall so people could sit comfortably all along it.  A few sparse, small tables sat here and there along the long bench.  However, above the back of the seat, the wall was covered in shelves of more books.  At least ten feet into rafters, Ichigo guessed, shelves and shelves of various books extended up.  They went along the wall all the way to the back wall.  He could see another large shelf of books that seemed to be separating off a section of tables at the very back.  Again, the large portion stood up at least eight feet and was lined with different kinds of books.

To the right, there was a large raised stage, perhaps about four feet off the ground in height.  The wall behind it, while not lined with books like the opposite wall, featured portraits and quotes of what he thought were famous authors and poets.  There was a mic in the center of the stage, and while there was no one there now, Ichigo could see easily that the stage was well worn and it was obvious no one wanted to cover up that fact.  The front of the stage, like the back, was plastered with poets and writers in various forms, from photos to old, peeling posters.  Past the stage, he could see that the wall also was home to books, but these were only waist high in this back portion, and the walls featured quotes of some sort but he couldn’t read them from the very front entrance.  In front of the stage, instead of tables and chairs like in the rest of the place, there was a crescent shaped couch that took up the entirety of the space across the front of the stage, perhaps eight feet in width, and would seat twenty or more people.  In the center was a plain coffee table, and between the table and the stage, there were rugs that someone could sit upon if they chose to do so.

Ichigo had never seen a place like this before.  He shook his head.  Renji, still draped around his shoulders snickered.  “Amazing, ain’t it?”

Ichigo just nodded as he heard Nel squeal.  “Shinji!”

From behind the wall, a blonde haired man had come out and gave them a bright grin as he came over.  Ichigo thought he was very nice looking, his long blonde hair cut at his jawline and his eyes bright.  He wore a plain black t-shirt and a pair of low-rise black jeans that clung to him like second skin.  Ichigo noted the sway he had when he walked.  He hugged Nel to his chest and patted her back.

 “Oh, girl, long time no see!  You here with someone?” he said, glowing at the girl.

“Shinji, dear, we brought my latest closet case!” she announced, causing Ichigo to blush deeply.  He wasn’t sure if he liked being called a closet case.  “He’s had a bonk to the head and needs to be kept awake.”

Shinji let go of Nel and moved to get a better look at Ichigo.  He watched as he started fiddling with his shirt.  “Oh good lord, girl…” Shinji muttered where only Nel could hear him.  “Isn’t he a tasty thing…”

Nel led him over and smiled at them both.  “Ichigo, this is Shinji, he owns this place and the Rukongai next door,” she said fondly.

Ichigo let out a strangled, “Hi” and felt the guy positively ravaging him with his eyes.  He reached out, spinning Ichigo around and then again to face him. 

“Damn, you are _hot_ , sweetie.  You are so going to end up dancing all night next door,” he said, smirking.

“I can’t do that!” he said with a near squeak.  “What if someone I know sees me here?” he stammered.  He’d already forgotten the brief embarrassment.  He was more worried that someone Tatsuki knew would see him here where he definitely wasn’t supposed to be at night.

Grimmjow this time patted him on the back.  “We’re supposed to keep you awake, remember?  And wake you up every couple hours even after that?  Might as well enjoy ourselves if we’re going to be at this all night, berry boy.”

Ichigo turned to him with a scowl.  “Don’t call me that.”

Grimmjow smirked.  “Whatever, _berry boy._ ”

Ichigo glared at him again but said nothing as Nel laughed out loud beside them.

Shinji shook his head and looked him over.  “Not much for dance clothes, sweetheart,” Shinji said softly, “But that shirt is hot as hell on you baby.  Really.  What’s up with the shirt with those awful pants?” he asked, frowning, spinning him again, and running hands around Ichigo’s ribcage.

He flinched when Shinji’s hands passed over his ribs.  Without warning, Shinji quickly yanked up his shirt and frowned at what he saw underneath.  Ichigo was too shocked by this man’s forward nature to even attempt to stop him.  “Good lord, boy, someone take a bat to you?”

Grimmjow and Nel exchanged looks as Ichigo’s eyes went wide.  Nel could see the panic building and she knew it all too well.  She had hoped Shinji would pick up on it.  Nel very rarely came out with her brother, she usually was with a date when she came by, and she never brought any of her “closet cases” with her.  Shinji was incredibly smart, though, and she figured that he would pick up on the subtle hints.  Byakuya and Renji had both gone to one of the lover’s booths and snuggled into the corner together.

“A-accident, is all…” Ichigo muttered.

Shinji frowned and his whole demeanor changed.  “Accident, if this is an accident, I’m straight, honey.  I’m a paramedic by trade, sweetie, and I know ribs bruised by fists, and by the look, not very big hands.”

Ichigo started, eyes widening, and Nel bit the inside of her cheek.  Shinji’s observation was the confirmation she was looking for.  Shinji was in his late twenties, and had inherited the land from his mom when she passed a few years ago.  Before that he had been a paramedic and they often worked together on cases involving the injuries of her kids.  When he took over the club, he turned it into a combination coffee house and microbrewery.   Before that point, it had been one of the dirtiest strip clubs in the area, with a prostitute ring running right under the cops’ noses.  The coffee house was a business of passion, a piece of his heart, so to speak, and the microbrewery next to it made sure he could keep it open.  However, that was only part of what Shinji did with his inheritance, and only part of what the earnings from both places went to supporting.

Shinji looked over to Nel with an arched brow which she gave a curt nod in response.  “Sweetie, come with me, I think we should talk about this,” he said, putting an arm around his back.

Ichigo glanced back at Nel and Grimmjow who both nodded at him encouragingly as he was pulled away by the surprisingly strong thin man.  Shinji had a way of coaxing things out people who were reluctant, and he was especially good with young people who needed his help.  Shinji was very much the stereotypical femme; he never left the house without makeup and often dressed in drag.  When it came to the people he was protecting, however, he was fierce, and had more than once put someone in the hospital for messing with his “kids” as he called them.  He was slender but had a third degree tae kwon do belt, and did not hesitate to pull out those skills on anyone who had the gall to mess with his kids.

Shinji’s secondary occupation was helping local LGBTQ youth in need.  The entire second floor of the warehouse had been turned into something very similar to a hostile.  Large, open living area, two bathrooms, and a large open sleeping area with eight sets of bunk beds and ten more available rolling cots were the major aspects of the area.  There was also a kitchen and dining room set up, and anyone in need was invited to stay.  Those that needed a place long term took up employment in one of the businesses below as a way to pay for their room and board.  In fact, the entirety of the current Dangai staff was staying upstairs as well as a few of the people working at the Rukongai next door.

As Nel watched him drape that protective hand around Ichigo, she knew he already considered him one of his kids, even if Ichigo didn’t know it yet.

Shinji took Ichigo back to the farthest corner to the right, past the books on that wall there was a recessed door, and it opened into a large office with a large black leather sofa and a large black chair.  There was a desk with a huge office chair behind it to the other side.  On the opposite wall, there was another door just like the one he’d come through.  Files and papers were everywhere and hanging out of file cabinets.  It looked like place needed some serious organization.  Shinji sat him down on the big sofa and then placed himself curled up in the large chair and watched him.

“I see you got your lip busted too, sweetie.  Busted lip, concussion, and two solid punches to the ribs by smaller hands.  How long has she been hitting you like this?” he said, staring at him unblinking.

Ichigo shot his head up and wanted to deny what he was saying, and he tried really hard, his throat working as he wanted to find the words.  _No, of course not, that’s ridiculous.  Why would I let a girl beat me up?  It was just an accident.  Nothing more.  I am just clumsy, you know, I trip and fall.  Look at this hair, I mean, I get all kinds of bad attention, you wouldn’t believe the fights I’ve been in._ All the excuses he’d ever used ran through his mind, but instead, something about the guy made the most insane thing come tumbling out of his mouth, the truth.

“Since we started dating in middle school,” he muttered dejectedly.  He caught his breath, surprised, covering his mouth.  “Oh shit, I…I’ve never said this before…”

Shinji shook his head.  “What’s the reason she does it?  Or does she have one?”

He swallowed again.  “It’s just, you know, she’s into martial arts, and…and at first it was just she got a little rough sparring with me.  We used to go to a dojo together, starting when we were really little kids.  But I had to quit after I had a bad fall and twisted my knee when I was about thirteen.  But I didn’t wanna quit so we would spar by ourselves.  And at first, it was okay, just like in the dojo, but she started leaving bruises and when I complained she told me to quit being a pussy for whining about being hit by a girl.”

Shinji got up and went behind the desk and opened a small mini-fridge that was under it and returned with a cold can of coke for him.  He sat down beside Ichigo this time and handed him the soda can.  Ichigo took it, popping the top and drinking quickly as though he would never drink again.  He was so thirsty, and he had no idea why.

“And then it just got a little worse, like when we started dating, she’d punch my arm or my side in front of our friends, and if I flinched away she’d laugh, telling me I needed to be a man and take it.  My friends, they would laugh too, you know, because that’s what you do, when your friends laugh it off,” he said, looking a little distant as he spoke.

“When’d she start breaking bones?” Shinji asked, his face expressionless.

“Huh, how’d you know that?” he said, looking up.

Shinji leaned over and traced a finger along his collar bone, pausing at the slightly raised ridge where it had been broken and healed.  “Easy, sweetie.  I know what I’m looking for on my kids.”

Ichigo was stunned.  He could tell his collar bone had been broken by that tiny little spot?  “Um, high school I guess, yeah, that was the first.  She was messing around and I don’t even remember what happened, but somehow my legs were out from under me and I tumbled down a small set of stairs.  But they were concrete and I landed weird and my dad told me I’d fractured the shin bone.  She told me I was a clutz, and should watch where I was going when I came back to school with a cast.”

“And this?” he said, his finger still on the bone. 

“Ah, that one.  She lost at a tournament to an illegal move the judges didn’t see, and I was wanting to, well, comfort her, and she lashed out.  I should have known she’d be upset.  But she threw me into the wall and I hit the stud with this side.  She didn’t want me to go to the ER about it, but in the middle of the night I started throwing up and couldn’t stand so she decided we better go,” he said softly.

Shinji sighed deeply and looked at him for a long moment.  “You need to get away from her; she’s no good for you, Ichigo.”

“But, but I love her more than anything, and I know she loves me, so shouldn’t we be together even if she does have a little bit of a temper?” he asked, eyes wide as he looked at this man, this perfect strange, even.

“Ichigo, are you in love with her, or just with the idea of being in love?” Shinji asked, his eyes utterly serious.

Ichigo couldn’t think properly for a long moment.  He sat there for that time, his mouth working in a useless attempt to form words, to form the words to deny it.  He grimaced and put his hand on his forehead and frowned deeply.  He still had a headache, and he really wanted to sleep.  All this thinking was hurting his head even worse.

“I…I think…you’re right,” he said finally, eyes falling.  “I’ve never felt right with her, but I feel like if I don’t have her I’m just going to crumble.  If I don’t have _someone_ , you know.  She’s always been there.  She was my first, she was my first kiss, first everything.  If I don’t have her, what…what do I have?”

Shinji gave him a long look and then reached over and pulled him against him in a tight hug.  “You have me, now Ichigo and I want you to start working for instead of whatever insipid job she has you working at, and I’d really like it if you’d stay here instead of with her.”

“What, why do you say that?” he said into the mass of blond hair tickling his nose.

“Honey, I know this stuff.  You can’t have your friends around, you can’t go out without her, you can’t go anywhere but work, and she found you the job, huh?” he said, pushing him back.

Ichigo gaped at him.  “I…is it always the way?  I thought…I thought I was just a push over, and that I…I deserved to be stuck like this because I couldn’t stand being alone…that something was wrong with me.”

Shinji nodded.  “Sweetie, I’ve seen it many times, both boys and girls caught in this mess.  You aren’t at fault, she is.”

Ichigo swallowed hard.  “I can’t stay here, that’s…no.  I can just come here at night instead of going to the grocery store.  I don’t think anyone she knows would come near this place, you know.  I’m not ready to leave her, but…I would like to be around people again.  So, I’ll work here, but I can’t leave her.”

Shinji smiled and nodded.  It was more than he expected.  “Well, we’ll see about that, how about for now I hire you as a secretary so you can organize this mess of an office I have here.  And then maybe some bartending, and out in the Dangai, on Saturday and Wednesday nights they have poetry readings up on that stage.” 

“But I’m not twenty yet,” he said quietly.  “Not for another couple months.”

“Then you just can’t work the bar next door,” he said with a soft and encouraging smile.  “Nothing says you can’t work back here or out in the Dangai.”

Ichigo nodded.  “Okay,” he said, smiling.

“Come on, let’s go back out, and you can meet some of my kids out there,” he said smiling.

Ichigo nodded and came out with him and noted most the customers were gone, leaving only the workers and Grimmjow, Nel, Byakuya, and Renji there.  Shinji steered him to the bar where the short blonde and the man in with the long hair were cleaning up the coffee machines.

“Rose, honey,” Shinji said, and the man, to Ichigo’s surprise, looked up at him.  He smiled.  “This is Ichigo, he’s going to start working nights on my office, and helping out around here and next door where he can,” he said.

Rose leaned over and offered his hand, which Ichigo shook, noting the incredibly delicate features that he had.  He was very feminine, but he lacked breasts, he noted.  He smiled, and while he had a higher voice than Ichigo expected, it wasn’t quite female or male.  “Ichigo, hi there, love.  Good to meet you.  Are you staying here?”

Ichigo shook his head.  “Ah, no, I’ve got an apartment with my girlfriend.”

Rose arched a sculpted brow and glanced at Shinji and smiled.  “I see.  I used to have one of those…” he said, scrubbing the blender with a smile.  “She didn’t appreciate the fact I wanted to be a woman more than she did.”

Shinji smiled at Ichigo.  “My kids, they’re all LGBTQ youth.  Rose, Hiyori, all of the ones that work here, they live upstairs and work here to pay for it.”

At her name, the blonde looked up.  “Hey kid,” she said with a gruff sounding voice.  Now, she had breasts, Ichigo noted.  She had small breasts, but breasts nonetheless.  “You know anything about working at this kind of place?”

Ichigo shook his head.  “I stock at a grocery right now,” he said, nodding slowly and nearly flinching away from her.  Hiyori frowned and glanced at Shinji. Shinji nodded to her and steered him over toward where a girl with a pair of black pigtails was sitting on one of the tables reading something.  Shinji noted that again, Ichigo tended to put more distance between him and her, and like with Hiyori, didn’t offer his hand to her.

“Lisa, this is a new kid around here, Ichigo.  He’ll be starting tomorrow night,” he said.  “Ichigo, this is Lisa, she’s sort of the security and floor manager.  If anyone needs help, she helps them, and if we get anyone who wanders over from next door that’s too drunk she deals with them.”

Ichigo swallowed, nervously and Shinji noted the slight tremble in his hands and that he was glancing around.  He smiled at Lisa who went back to reading her yaoi manga, seemingly unbothered by it.  The only other people downstairs in the Dangai were Hachi and Kensei.  Ichigo shook hands with Hachi easily and seemed comfortable around despite the fact he was a very large man with vivid pink hair and a pink moustache.  They found Kensei, one of the servers, who was cleaning up in the back area where there had been a spill, and again, Ichigo seemed at ease with him.

Shinji led Ichigo back to the front where Grimmjow and the others were sitting along the wall on the bench. 

“I return him to you, sort of, I demand a dance next door, however, when I get there, for now, I have to close up shop over here.  I’ll see you all next door?” he said with a smile.

Ichigo blushed a bit and nodded.  Nel smiled and took his hand.  “Come on honey, I think my girlfriend will be next door tonight,” she said.

Ichigo blinked and looked at her. “Girlfriend?” he asked.

“Come on, silly,” Nel said with a grin.  “You’ll like her.  And I know Grimmjow can’t wait to get that sexy ass of yours on the dance floor.”

Ichigo flushed again as she drug him out the door and down to the Rukongai entrance as the others followed.  “But…but I’m not…I’m not…gay…” he tried to mutter.  Behind him he heard three separate snickers.  Why wasn’t anyone listening to him?


	4. Rukongai Microbrewery and Pub

Ichigo’s first impression of the pub was that there was no way in the world it could possibly be owned by the same individual who opened the coffeehouse next door.  The coffeehouse was warm, almost homely even.  This place was _alive._   That was the only way that he could explain it as he was led into the open warehouse.  A low, steady thrumming music played, not like office music, but not loud and bothersome either.  This place was open where the other was divided up.  The bar took up perhaps three quarters of the building, so it was much wider, but just as deep.  Again, the right side of the building featured a stage, though this one was obviously a bandstand complete with all the trappings for the band set to go up at ten tonight.  Along the front of the stand, there were bright neon green, blue and pink lights.  It wasn’t obnoxious, just a little bit of color.  Around the bandstand was a wide dance floor.  The bandstand and dance floor took up about the same space that the entire coffeehouse took up.  At the very back of the right hand section, he saw the sign for the restrooms, but instead of two, there were three signs, labeled Men’s, Women’s, and Unisex. 

The center section was filled up with a few tables and chairs and two long c-shaped booths that curved around large tables that sat in the middle.  Each side could fit about six people, it looked, and one on the end in the c where it went around.  There were some other pub style tables toward the back, and he could see some traditional booths along the back wall.  The tabletops seemed to have some sort of interior neon green glow, as though they were glass with lights under them.  He glanced to the left hand section and saw that the bar was made of the same material. 

The brewery part of the place and the bar took up the far left section.  The bar ran along the left wall where there were stocked tons of different things on mirrored wall behind it.  He could see the knobs for the craft beers and the various other things they kept on hand.  The baseboards and footboards all had a streak of pink neon that lit up.  Ichigo realized that it served two purposes, if the main lights were down, it would be easy to mark where to go.  The floors were a nice, glossy black color, and the walls were also black with accents of neon colors in splash work.  The place was brightly lit at the moment, large low hanging track lighting lining the ceiling.  He gaped a bit because again, the place was amazing. 

“Pretty cool, eh?” Renji said, dropping an arm around him again. 

“I…wow,” Ichigo said with a shake of his head.  “This really is amazing.”

Ichigo glanced over to see Grimmjow talking to Byakuya at the bar and once again, Ichigo felt his attention drawn to the blue haired man.  He’d never felt so incredibly inclined to stare at someone before.  He blinked.  Shit, was he gay after all?  He shifted under Renji’s heavy arm.  “So what goes on in here anyway?”

“Well, tonight Hyōrinmaru is playing.  Their lead singer is Toshiro Hitsugaya, this short little shit with a hella temper.  His guitar player is a big time player himself, Shuuhei Hisagi.  Their base is…” he was interrupted by a loud smacking sound and he yelped.

“Fuck, ‘Kuya!” he said, turning around and rubbing his ass.  “If you want attention, you don’t gotta smack me so damn hard.”

“Come on, brat,” Byakuya said, grabbing Renji by the shirt and pulling him away.  “You’ve been flirting too much for my liking.”

Ichigo’s eyes went wide but Renji turned around and winked at him with a huge grin as he let the other man lead him toward the bathrooms.  Nel came up and snorted.  “Don’t make a mess this time, dammit, Shinji was bitching for a week the last time you went at it in the fucking bathroom!” she yelled.

Ichigo looked at her, confused.  “Oh, them?  Don’t worry, sweetheart, Renny and ‘Kuya have an…interesting relationship.  Renny pisses him off on purpose, and then when ‘Kuya gets mad enough, he comes and drags him off to some corner to fuck him senseless.  That’s why Renny’s been hanging on you tonight, he knows ‘Kuya is jealous as _fuck_ and it is a one way ticket to get him hot and bothered.”

“That’s…interesting.  Byakuya seems kind of emotionless…” he said softly.

Nel grinned.  “That’s until you get him worked up.  That’s why Renny does it.  He’s happiest when ‘Kuya leaves him walking funny for a week,” she said with a smirk.  “Of course, with those two, it is most every week…” she said, glancing back where Grimmjow was sitting at the bar talking to the bartender, a tall man with black hair cropped at his jawline and feathered barrettes pinning it out of his dark violent colored eyes.  He was wearing what looked to be the uniform, a black T-shirt with Rukongai written in neon green across the back and the emblem on the front pocket.  He was leaning over and Grimmjow was obviously flirting with him, and shamelessly.

Nel shook her head and took Ichigo over to the bar.  “Yumi, this is Ichigo,” she said with a smile.

The man smiled and put a hand out which Ichigo shook gently and glanced over the features.  “Hey,” Ichigo said.

“Goodness, gracious, Nel, what a pretty little one,” he said, leaning over on his elbows and grinning at Ichigo.  “Where did you find this lovely morsel?”

Ichigo blushed again.  “Oh, he’s going to be working over at Dangai and here off and on.  Shinji’s trying to get him to stay upstairs, but he’s a bit reluctant.”

Yumi grinned.  “Sugar I would definitely let you share my bed up there,” he said, with a gentle wink.

Ichigo swallowed dryly.  The attention was a bit overwhelming.  “You…you stay here?” he finally stammered.

Yumi nodded.  “I came here a little over three months ago when my parent’s kicked me out for being an abomination to nature,” he said with a grin.

Grimmjow snorted.  “If you’re an abomination, I think I’ll stay away from nature,” he said with a wink at Yumi.  Yumi stood up and slapped him with a bar towel.

“You devil, you know I’m quite taken,” he said with a smirk.  “And Ikkaku should be by after he gets off tonight at three.  He’s patrol over in downtown.”

“You know, it is dangerous to sleep with a cop,” Grimmjow smirked at him and sipped a mug of beer as a green haired girl sat it down.

“Yumi, quit flirting with the customers, Ikkaku’s gonna spank you…again,” she said and skipped away.

Yumi rolled his eyes.  “I’ve got to get ready for tonight when the band gets here.  Let Mashiro know if you need something,” he said and headed through a door Ichigo hadn’t noticed behind the bar.

“Store room,” Nel said with a smile.

Ichigo nodded as the green haired Mashiro came back and sat down a glass of soda for him.  “Thanks,” he said shyly, trying very hard not to make eye contact with her.  Mashiro tipped her head to the side and glanced at Nel.  Nel nodded to her and she headed back behind the bar again.

“Shuuhei is the head bartender, but he’s also in the band, so he’s off tonight from over here,” Nel said with a smile and sat down beside Grimmjow. 

Ichigo got up on the barstool on the other side of her and watched as the place started to fill up around them. He wasn’t used to so many people let alone the noise, but he was determined to enjoy himself.  It wasn’t something he’d ever done before, and he was going to make the most of it.  Then, he heard his name, of all things.  He blinked and turned around and found himself facing someone he definitely didn’t expect to see.

“Ichigo, I thought that was you,” the tall, dark skinned man said.  Nel turned and looked to see who it was.

“Sado, you know Ichigo?” she asked, frowning a bit.

“Um, yeah, uh…” Ichigo swallowed.  “Chad and I went to school together, same class, and…and…we were friends and then…well…the…you know…it just…and…”  Ichigo swallowed.  How was he going to explain the situation.

Nel put a hand on his back.  “Ichigo, you were friends before you were with her?”

Ichigo nodded and saw Chad’s brow furrow a bit.  Ichigo remembered that Chad played the bass guitar, but he didn’t realize that he would be here of all places.  “Yeah…yeah…” Ichigo stammered, looking down.

“Sado, come by after your set, we’ll talk,” she said to the tall young man.  She of course knew Sado went to school with Ichigo, she’d spoken to him back when she’d gone to the school, though Ichigo had never known.  Now and then, since he started playing with the band, he would ask her if she knew about what had happened to Ichigo.

Ichigo turned and chugged his soda in one drink and fiddled with his hands.  Nel put her arm around him.  “Sweetie, are you okay?”

He nodded.  “Yeah, I just…I didn’t expect to know anyone here…”

“Don’t be so worried.  I doubt that horrible girl will be here,” she said.  “Didn’t you say she did drugs?”

Ichigo nodded.  “Yeah, when she parties, she does drugs.”

“Then she won’t be here, no one is allowed to have drugs in here, and there is no dealing here, no matter how hard the folks from Las Noches try to weasel their way in here with their wares,” she said with a smile and tight squeeze of his shoulders.

“Las Noches?” Ichigo asked, seeing his soda was immediately refilled.

“Yeah, run by this man named Aizen, makes and sells designer drugs, along with the more traditional sort, of course.  He tries to weasel his folks into every bar, club, or hangout in the area.  Shinji’s fought long and hard to make sure he doesn’t get someone in here.  Las Noches is a strip club about a fifteen minute drive from where we are now, in a really seedy part of town.  They’re all snakes, there,” she said, sipping her beer as she spoke.

Ichigo looked up as a girl with black hair pulled up in a pair of long pigtails came up behind Nel and grinned at him.  She put a finger to her lips and then put her hands over Nel’s eyes.  Nel smirked.

“Well, I wonder who that could be?” she said, spinning around on the stool and grabbing the dark haired girl and kissing her on the lips and siting back.  “Loly, love, this is my new friend, Ichigo,” she said, gesturing at him.

Loly smiled and reached out to take his hand but flinched away from her.  Nel put a hand on Loly’s arm and pushed it down with a slight shake of her head.  “Ichigo, this is my girlfriend, Loly.  She’s one of the cocktail waitresses here.  She used to stay here, but now she’s got her own apartment, right babe?” Nel said, holding her hands and smiling at her.  Ichigo could see she was wearing one of the pub t-shirts and a short, black skirt.

“Yeah,” she said, glancing back at Ichigo and to Nel.  Nel smiled, hoping to convey that she’d explain later.  Loly nodded.  “Well, I should get to work,” she said, leaning over and kissing Nel’s cheek before she headed to the back.

Nel smiled as she left then glanced at Ichigo who was staring at his soda glass again with a morose look on his face.  “Itsygo, what is it?” she asked.

“Just…I can’t even touch another girl without thinking about her, you know,” he said.  “I just…I don’t even want to be near another girl at all.  I mean, I know they’re not like her, that they won’t…lash out.  But still,” he said, rubbing his thumb along the rim of the glass as condensation collected on it.

Nel sighed.  “Don’t worry so much,” she said as there was a loud drum smack.  “Oh, they’re starting up,” she said as a solid drum beat began, followed by the sound of keyboard, guitars, and a few minutes later, the singer started in on a rock song.  “The singer, the white haired one, that’s Toshiro.  Shuuhei, the second singer and one of our bartenders is the one next to him with lead guitar, and of course your friend Sado is the bassist.  Then, the big breasted woman on keyboard, that’s Rangiku Matsumoto, and the little guy on drums, is Hana Yamada.  He’s a nurse at the hospital during the day and plays drums here on the weekend nights.”

Ichigo looked about.  “Have Renji and Byakuya come back?” he asked.

Nel smirked.  “Oh, they made it out of the bathroom, they’re in one of the back booths having a post fucking make out session.”

Ichigo blushed at her brashness but then he felt someone tap his shoulder.  He looked up to see Grimmjow standing beside him.  “Told you you’d have to dance,” he said gruffly and Ichigo’s eyes widened a bit.

Nel smiled and shoved him off the stool.  “Go, have fun,” she said as Grimmjow grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the dance floor.  There weren’t a lot of people on it at the moment, but there were a few.  He pulled Ichigo into his arms and across the floor as the song shifted into a slower paced song.  Ichigo felt like his face was on fire.

“What are you so embarrassed about?” Grimmjow said as they moved together. 

Ichigo swallowed. “I…well I’ve never been dancing, for one,” he said, quietly as Grimmjow pulled him in a little closer.  Ichigo started as his stomach pressed into Grimmjow.

“Oh, for one?” Grimmjow said, the song shifting to an even slower ballad style.

Ichigo swallowed hard.  “Um, yeah, and never danced with a guy,” he said, again, glancing away from him into the crowd.  He was trying to look anywhere but his face.

There were several different couples of all sorts on the floor, and they weren’t the only male couple dancing. Suddenly Ichigo found himself pulled even closer as Grimmjow’s hand settled low on his hip.  His heart was beating harder than he thought possible.

“You don’t seem to dislike it,” Grimmjow said, leaning over and putting his mouth close to Ichigo’s ear.

“No,” Ichigo squeaked then immediately felt bad because that was definitely not the sort of sound he meant to make.

He felt Grimmjow’s breath hot on his neck and his head was buzzing.  He wasn’t sure if it was the effects of the concussion or the slow dance, or just being held like this, but he was feeling unlike he’d ever felt before.  He swallowed dryly when Grimmjow leaned closer to his ear to speak again over the loud music.  “Yeah, I think you like this, don’t you?” he said. 

The only sound Ichigo managed was a strange combination of a whimper and a sigh and it made Grimmjow snicker in his ear, sending more blood rushing to places he didn’t really want it right that moment.  Of course, mostly to his face, though he was definitely feeling something in the pit of his stomach that he had never felt before.  It was like butterflies had started fluttering inside his belly, and he couldn’t explain it.  He wondered if it was just the concussion, but no, he didn’t think so.  Something was very different as his feet moved with Grimmjow’s across the floor and he felt his strong, thick body moving against him.  The world had disappeared to be honest, and he wouldn’t have noticed if the building had fallen into flames.  Only the two of them existed, and Ichigo wasn’t exactly sure what that meant.

“You’re so fucking adorable I can hardly stand to keep my lips off you,” Grimmjow breathed into his ear.  Ichigo whimpered again, his breath steadily growing more rapid.  He looked up into Grimmjow’s wide cerulean eyes and he was sure that the world had crashed around him.  He nodded to him slowly, and Grimmjow smiled a slow, soft smile and placed a chaste, delicate kiss on Ichigo’s lips.

Ichigo’s world was set on fire.  He’d kissed Tatsuki so many times, and it never felt like that.  It was always cold, and wet, and messy, and like sex, it was what was expected.  This, though, set off every nerve ending in his body at once and he blinked owlishly at him for a minute and didn’t say anything.  Grimmjow leaned down again and this time Ichigo let his mouth open.  Grimmjow wasn’t one to pass on opportunity, of course, and he pulled Ichigo’s body tighter to him and slid his tongue into his open mouth quickly, touching Ichigo’s tongue gently, testing, and when he felt Ichigo’s jaw relax, he deepened the kiss, letting his tongue slowly explore his partner’s mouth slowly, languidly.  The music ended about the time they needed breath and they broke apart.

They’d been on the far edge, past the side of the bandstand, when Grimmjow started trying to coax a kiss or two out of the cute orangette.  Both headed back to the bar, sure that they hadn’t been noticed too much by anyone.  People were always moving off to the side to make out now and then.  They, however, had been noticed by people that would have been better off not noticing them.

“Did you fucking see that?” the tall, lanky man with the bandana said to the green eyed man sitting beside him at the farthest table from the bar.

“Look’s like Aizen’s fucktoy has a faggot for a boyfriend,” the green eyed Ulquiorra said, sipping his beer.

Nnoitra giggled as he sipped his drink.  “Oh, man, this is fucking golden.  Supposed to keep an eye on the lil’ prick, and find him almost fuckin’ making out with a dude on the dance floor.  Oh, fuck me sideways, this is going to be bad, isn’t it?” he said, shaking his head.

Loly came by and put down two more.  “Anything else, guys?” she asked, smiling.

“Unless you wanna come take a sit on my lap and give my cock a rockin’,” Nnoitra said with a lecherous grin at her.

Loly rolled her eyes.  “Sorry, darling, my girlfriend wouldn’t approve,” she said, picking up the empty glasses and putting them on her tray.

“Ah, she can come play too,” Nnoitra said with a grin.  “Ulqui here ain’t had his dick wet in a while,” he said, elbowing the short, pale man who looked rather uninterested.

Loly shook her head.  “I’m afraid you’ll need to look here.  Girlfriend and I are strictly into pussies, darling,” she said, turning and leaving.

“Fuck, man, hot piece of ass like that deserves a good dicking, man,” he muttered, sipping his beer.

Ulquiorra, though, was watching their quarry at the bar, who was drinking a soda and talking to the green haired chick on one side of him, and the blue haired bastard he was throat examining on the floor on the other.  “I think we should focus on what we’re here for.  He told us to tale him and make sure he didn’t get killed by the horny slut before he got back from his trip.  And if she finds out he’s here, she’s gonna be pissed.”

Nnoitra sighed.  “Yeah, whatever.  My first day off, I’m buying five whores and staying in bed all day fucking, got it?”

“I’m sure you would love to do just that,” Ulquiorra said, sipping his beer and watching quietly.

A few feet away, another table had a person that had recognized Ichigo.  Chizuru took out her phone and texted Tatsuki excitedly.

_Tats, girl, you didn’t tell me you and Ichi split – Chi_

Chizuru had actually gone to school with both of them.  Arisawa Tatsuki was a girl who had always gotten what she wanted, and Chizuru had been along for the ride, so to speak.  She’d always thought Tatsuki seemed more than a little aggressive, which had caused issues when they met since Chizuru was a lesbian and initially thought Tatsuki was too.  Then, when she started seeing Ichigo, she wondered about their relationship because she always complained about him.  Lately, though, they hadn’t been seeing each other as often, mostly because Tatsuki seemed to be high half the time.

 _Why the fuck would you say that?_ Came the reply.

Chizuru snapped a picture of Ichigo just as the blue haired man beside him leaned over to talk in his ear.  He was quite obviously blushing at whatever was being said to him in the picture.  Chizuru sent it.  Not a half a moment later a new text came in.

_Who the fuck is that and where the fuck are you?_

_Chill out, Tats, at the Rukongai, that pub I hang out with my girls, one of the more lezzy friendly places around, and I have no idea who the dude is, never seen him here – Chi_

Chizuru wondered what she was so angry about.  So Ichigo had gone out without her, did that mean he was cheating?  She shook her head.  Ichigo wouldn’t cheat, but she also knew Tatsuki was rather abrasive all the time, and lately had gotten worse.  Maybe he was exploring other options?  She’d always wondered about him.  She knew beyond a doubt he didn’t fit the role he was trying to play with Tatsuki.  Now, watching him as the blue haired man flirted with him, she knew for sure.  She’d never seen an expression like that on his face when he and Tatsuki sat together.  What she saw now was genuine.  She bit her lip and glanced at her phone, wishing now she hadn’t said anything.  She put the phone away when there was no answer after fifteen minutes.  Maybe telling her was the best, though, because if they were still together, it obviously wasn’t good.  Maybe she’d break up with him over it and Ichigo could go be with someone he really cared about.

At the bar, Ichigo was having a very hard time not blushing every time Grimmjow leaned over to speak to him.  He wanted to kiss him again.  At the moment, he wanted to have Grimmjow take him to the bathroom like Renji and Byakuya had.  Even the thought made him blush a bit.  That was so unlike him, he thought, but he wanted whatever Renji had with Byakuya.  He wanted to be happy, so much he just wanted to be happy.

Nel put a hand on his arm.  “Doing okay?”

Ichigo nodded and turned around to see Renji had come up behind him.  “Hey, come on, you owe me a dance,” Renji said with a smirk and pulled him out onto the floor.  Grimmjow looked a little annoyed as he left, but Nel moved over to sit beside him.

Renji spun him out and grinned.  “So you and Grimmy danced.”

Ichigo swallowed and nodded.  “Yeah,” he said.

“Wanna go use the bathroom?” Renji said with a smirk and Ichigo blushed bright red.  “You do!  I thought you weren’t gay, huh?”

Ichigo looked away, thoroughly embarrassed.  “I don’t know what I am, okay?” he said softly.

“It’s okay, you know,” Renji said as they danced.  It was quite obvious Renji wasn’t interested in him like Grimmjow was.  The dance was fun, but it wasn’t the same.  “I know what it’s like, the first time you realize that you want to be the one slammed up against the wall.”

Ichigo swallowed and looked over Renji’s shoulder.  “Hey, don’t be embarrassed,” Renji said, smirking.  “I was a real lady’s man, you know.  Actually, funny story, that’s how I met ‘Kuya.  He caught me fucking his sister in their bathroom.”

Ichigo looked at him with wide eyes.  “What?”

Renji snickered.  “Oh yes, he was livid!  Grabbed me by the hair and drug me out into the living room.  Rukia came running out, managed to grab a robe, I was butt naked.  She screamed at him, I stood there scared stiff because he was so pissed.  Rukia gets mad, takes off in her car and leaves me there with him.  He throws me down and starts giving me what for and I realize he’s fucking hot.  The madder he gets the more I’m getting hard.  He stops suddenly when he realizes I’m trying very hard to hide a fuckin’ massive boner.  He grabs my hands and stares at me, and I’m like, ah fuck, now what’s he going to think…”

The song changed to a slower one and Renji slowed their pace but smiled at him.  “That’s when he grabbed me by the arm and stared at me for a long time.  Next thing I know, he’s got both hands in my fucking hair with his tongue down my throat and fifteen minutes later I’m being fucked into the goddamn wall of his bedroom like a two bit slut, and I fucking wanted to do it again.  And we did.  A few more times.  Funny shit when Rukia came home the next morning and opened the door to find me sprawled in his bed with her brother wrapped around me.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard the words that came out of her mouth come out of a woman’s mouth before.  Something about her not expecting her brother to steal her boyfriend, and how he was allowed to have sex in the house but she wasn’t…”  Renji laughed.  “We’re friends now, but boy was she hot for a while over that.  I guess after you pass five years with a partner, it isn’t just a friendly fuck.”

“Five years?” Ichigo said, looking at him.  “You’ve been together five years?”

Renji nodded.  “Sure have,” he said as the song ended and he led him back to the bar.

“Grimmy, baby, here you go.  Sweet stuff, but if I dance with him anymore, I don’t think my ass can take a whole lot more of ‘Kuya’s jealously,” Renji said, waving as he headed to sit down beside his dark haired lover.  As soon as he sat down, Byakuya reached out and grabbed him by the hair and pulled him into a possessive kiss.

Ichigo shook his head as he sat down.  Grimmjow smiled at him.  “Are you having fun?” he asked.

Ichigo nodded.  “Yeah, yeah I am…”

He had no idea how long it would last, this freedom and he didn’t care right now.  It was like nothing he’d ever felt.  He felt wanted.  He felt like these people wanted him for who he was, not what he could do or who he was or any other reason.  He smiled at Grimmjow as he passed him a plate of nachos that he’d ordered to share with him.  Ichigo took one, and for the first time in a very long while, he was really happy.


	5. Shattered Illusions

Ichigo was almost euphoric when he put his key into the lock of the apartment at around nine o’clock the next morning.  It was Saturday now, so he was sure he was going to be met by an annoyed Tatsuki.  He had danced so many times with Grimmjow, and even ended up having a couple more kisses stolen by the brute.  Renji and Byakuya had left around two, and then he’d met Yumi’s boyfriend, Ikkaku when he got off shift at three and stopped by.  Nel and Grimmjow tried to get him to stay with them at least if he wouldn’t stay at Shinji’s place, but Ichigo wasn’t keen on that.  He was willing to change jobs, and in fact, he’d called the manager this morning and quit, saying he wasn’t sure when he’d be back after the concussion.  It had been surprisingly easy to give it up.

It had honestly been wonderful, and he would go back and organize that disaster of an office Shinji had.  He was simply giddy with the fact he was hiding something from Tatsuki.  When he heard nothing from inside, he bounded into the apartment and showered to get the smell of smoke and booze off his skin.  He had no idea how it managed to stick to him so well from the pub.  He grinned like an idiot into the water thinking of it.  Dangai and Rukongai.  Unusual names, but he was already in love with both of them.  He felt happy and accepted for once in his life.  He dried off and grabbed his pajamas and headed into the bedroom.  No, Tatsuki wasn’t home.  He guessed she’d gone for the weekend again.  She did that now and then. 

He snuggled into the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.  He was used to working nights, he’d been doing it for a while now, but he was exhausted after the emotional insanity of the night and the actual dancing part.  He slept peacefully until the alarm on his phone woke him at seven pm.  He sat up and yawned deeply and looked around.  Usually Tatsuki would wake him after she came in at about three, but it seemed she really was gone for the weekend.  She never told Ichigo beforehand when she was going to spend a weekend away, so he was kind of used to it.  It was nice, though because he didn’t have to worry about her, so he left the smoke smelling clothes in the hamper and got dressed again to work at the pub. 

Ichigo frowned at his closet.  He really didn’t have a lot of clothes that were the kind worn to a place like that, so he frowned and then grinned.  He stepped over the Tatsuki’s side of the closet and ran through her shirts until he found one he liked, a cap sleeved t-shirt with a red glittery skull on the white front.  It was snug, like Nel’s shirt had been, but he liked the way it looked.  Pants, though, he thought as he skimmed her clothes.  All he had were worn out slacks and a few pair of too big jeans since he’d lost so much weight in the last year.  He tilted his head to the side when he found a pair of her glitter skinny jeans and wondered…maybe he would fit into them.  He grinned and took off his pajama pants and underwear and wriggled his way into to them.  It was tight, and they were low rise, so he could see a good stripe of his belly where they dipped low on his pelvis.  He pulled at the front because he could see the soft trail of orangish hair that ran down into them.  Should he?  He stood in front of the mirror.  She wasn’t home, so she’d never know, right?  He grinned and grabbed his discarded clothes and dumped them in the hamper.  All he had to do was wash them before she got back and she’d never know.  He grabbed his heavy boots and slipped them on and dashed out the door.

He practically ran to the elevator and took it down to the outside.  He hailed a cab outside and slid in the back and gave the cabbie directions.  He hadn’t noticed the car that was following him as he went along.  This time, he spent at least half the night attempting to organize Shinji’s office, which he found was actually connected to both sides of the place.  One door led into the Dangai, the other one led into the Rukongai.  He ended up meeting several other people, but he tended to stay close to Shinji and found he was still uncomfortable around the women.  The second half of the night, Shinji insisted he come over the Rukongai and relax and listen to Hyōrinmaru and do some dancing again.  He sort of hoped that he saw Grimmjow again, but he ended up not coming by.

Again, he fell into bed exhausted after changing clothes when he got home.  He didn’t notice when the door opened and someone came into the room and watched him for a time.  He certainly didn’t notice when that same someone looked through the clothing hamper that he intended to wash when he woke up at five this evening, hoping to replace everything before Tatsuki got back from whatever she was doing.  He didn’t notice when the door opened and closed again.  He woke, washed all the clothes and then settled in to watch TV until Tatsuki came home.  He’d told Shinji that he was always off Sunday and Tuesday from the grocery, so he’d have to take those two days off.

Tatsuki came in around ten that night, and Ichigo knew she was high as a kite.  She couldn’t walk straight, and her hair was a mess.  He tried to make himself invisible, but it didn’t work so well, and he ended up being told what a worthless boyfriend he made, and she yelled at him for not bringing her the money for the cheap ass ring he’d bought.  He told her he’d get it once the place opened, but he ended up getting slapped for his tone, she said, and he ended up falling asleep sitting up on the sofa.  When he woke, she’d already left for school, and he could do nothing but wait nervously.  He decided she wasn’t coming back after class, though, and just left early for the pub.  This time, of course, he wore an old polo shirt and his jeans.

He ended up doing a lot of work in the office, and was almost done when he stopped, his mind wandering again to thoughts of Grimmjow, and how he kept thinking about that kiss.  What about Tatsuki?  He wasn’t gay, but he only thought of Grimmjow now.  So did that mean he was?  He didn’t understand.  And why did he feel so good wearing Tatsuki’s clothes those two nights while she was gone?  It had felt good, free.  Shinji came in and startled him as he sat musing.

“Honey, what’s up?  You look like your solving the riddle of life?” he asked, putting a hand on Ichigo’s shoulder.

“But…does the fact I keep thinking about Grimmjow instead of Tatsuki, does that mean I’m not into girls?” he asked, frowning.

Shinji pulled him up off the floor and sat him down on the sofa and sighed.  “Why do you like girls?”

Ichigo was surprised by the question.  “Well, because I’m a guy, and well, guys like girls and…”

“No, why do _you_ like girls?  Not what the world tells you.  Just because the world tells you you’re supposed to like girls doesn’t mean that it’s true.  Now why do you like girls?” Shinji said, watching every emotion flicker across Ichigo’s face.

Ichigo thought.  He was supposed to like girls.  From the time he could remember, he was supposed to treat girls with respect and love them and protect them.  He was a guy and that’s what guys were supposed to do.  Though, he couldn’t help a tiny piece of him that screamed that he wanted to be the one protected.  It screamed he was tired of playing the part of the protector.  He was so tired of being strong for someone else.

“Um…I…I’m so confused right now,” he said softly.  “I mean, I really thought Tatsuki was the world, so much I felt like if I didn’t make her happy and she left, I’d just die.  She was what held me together, kept me living.  She was my only reason…”

“Why?” Shinji asked, placing a hand on his knee.  “Why does she mean that much?”

“B-because…she told me…she was the only one who’d have me like this.  I’m weak and can’t...” he started, his mind spiraling.  Years of being told what he was every day was fighting with these new thoughts in his mind.  Years now of being told what he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to do were making him so confused. 

“Ichigo, why does she say you’re weak?” Shinji asked softly.  “What happened to make you feel like this?”  Shinji moved to sit beside him, and put an arm around his back to pull him closer.  He knew that there was a coming storm in the young man’s heart.  He’d seen it many times.  No matter how many it was heart wrenching to watch someone come to terms with their abuse, no matter what kind it was. 

He bit his lip to stop a quiver that had begun.  “I guess…when my mom died…and I cried all the time.  She…she was the only one that didn’t pity me.  Everyone felt sorry for me, the little boy that watched his mom die, you know?  She died protecting me, and…and I decided I had to protect others because it felt so horrible, knowing that.”  Tears were welling in his yes by now.  “I…just got so tired of feeling helpless.  So we fought and sparred and I wanted to be stronger so I could protect…I don’t know who or what I wanted to protect, my sisters I guess.  I mean Tatsuki didn’t need protecting, but…she made me feel safe because of that.  She wasn’t weak and she could fight, and that made me feel safe.  And…I never felt safe after mom died.”

Shinji pulled him closer.  “Honey, you are safe here.  And when you decide to leave that farce of a home, you have a place to come,” he said, stroking his head softly.

Ichigo swallowed hard and leaned into Shinji for a long time.  They sat quietly for a long while, neither speaking, as Ichigo let tears fall that he had refused for a long time.  His mind was still confused, and he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, but it was nice to just sit like this with someone who he knew cared.  It was more than he got with Tatsuki.

As the week progressed, things seemed to be going better, and he ended up seeing Grimmjow twice more that week, and both of those led to quite an intense make-out session in one of the back booths.  Kissing was about as far as they had gotten, though, with Grimmjow letting his hands wander a bit under Ichigo’s shirt.  Ichigo had been incredibly surprised at how much he reacted to Grimmjow’s touch.  It was Thursday night when he had come back and was sitting for the third time with Grimmjow in the booth.  Things were progressing further this time, and Grimmjow’s hands had slid down the back of Ichigo’s pants.  Ichigo almost jumped out of the seat.

“What’s wrong?” Grimmjow said, concerned and moving his hand back up to Ichigo’s waist.

“I just feel like I’m cheating on her,” he said, rubbing his hands over his face as they sat in the back booth.  Ichigo had learned it was the “make out corner” because no one could see into it unless they walked around the side to look in and the table was actually farther away from the table than necessary.

Grimmjow put his hand against Ichigo’s face and smiled.  “Ichigo, you don’t love her, you realize that, right?” he said and Ichigo turned into the touch. 

Ichigo swallowed hard.  “I don’t understand how I feel,” he said, putting a hand over Grimmjow’s larger one.  “I just, when I’m here with you, I fell like…like it is so right.  Then, I go back, and she’s there and I just want to run away and hide from her because I feel like I’m a child again.  She was there for me, though, Grimm.  When my mom died, no one else cared, no one else noticed, but she did.  She held my hand, held me, and I was nine years old, and it hurt so much.  How can I just give up on her now?  After everything that she’s done for me and everything she’s been through for me?”

“Ichi, I know you feel like you owe her, but you don’t.  She broke her promises to you when she hit you the first time out of anger.  You can’t say you love someone then hurt them like that.  Maybe she loved you, I don’t doubt at all that you love her, even now, Ichi.  She’s hurting you, now.  And that has to stop,” Grimmjow said, thumb tracing the dark circle under his eye that had shown up this week.  Tatsuki had been waking him up during the day more and having him run errands and do things that he usually didn’t do when he should have been sleeping.

Ichigo reached up and wiped away tears that started to collect.  “I just don’t understand it.  I…I am so scared that she’s going to find out, you know?  And hurt you, I don’t care about me…what if…what if…”

Grimmjow shushed him and put a finger to his lips.  “Baby, don’t think that.  She’s not going to do anything to hurt me.  I dare her to try.  A bitch like her?  I have no problem hitting.  However, I won’t have to hit her, because Nel has that spot reserved already and _she_ will kick my ass if I don’t let her have at Tatsuki first.”

Ichigo smiled, softly, looking up at him.  “Okay,” he said softly and Grimmjow leaned forward to capture his lips again, and before Ichigo knew it, he felt Grimmjow’s hand slide down the front of the old, too loose jeans, but he didn’t stop him this time.  At his touch, Ichigo moaned out loud and Grimmjow laughed and continued, rubbing his hand along his stomach, his thighs, and stroking him gently.  He kept one hand on his back because he kept trying to arch backward into the wall.  Ichigo’s fingers were digging into his biceps, and he knew that he was going to have small crescent shaped cuts there.  Grimmjow didn’t care; he wanted to make him feel good, like he hadn’t felt with that woman. 

“Grimm, Grimm,” Ichigo panted, realizing that he was going to go any second.  “Um, you got…oh…” he whined as Grimmjow took things a bit farther and pushed him back into the corner, sliding his hand under him and pressing his fingers against his perineum first, then the rest of the way to his entrance.  Ichigo nearly yelped into that touch, but he couldn’t talk as Grimmjow kept kissing his throat and collarbone.  

“You like that?” Grimmjow whispered into his ear as he pressed gently into him with his middle finger.  Ichigo nodded and whimpered again, overwhelmed by the sensations.  Grimmjow’s forearm, inside the loose jeans was sliding against his cock as his fingers worked into him and it was insanely good feeling.  He was tipped back just enough that Grimmjow could angle just right to reach what he was looking for, and when he found it, Ichigo nearly screamed as he came suddenly.

Grimmjow rested his head on Ichigo’s shoulder and smiled as he panted.  “Well, that is certainly sensitive,” he muttered, kissing his way up the hollow of his throat.

“Wh-what was that?” Ichigo panted, looking at him with wide eyes.  Grimmjow grinned at him and winked, pulling his hand out and grabbing napkins off the table to clean Ichigo’s belly off.

“Never had that, huh?” he said, buttoning and zipping the jeans after he’d cleaned him off.

Ichigo shook his head, still looking shocked.  Grimmjow leaned forward and kissed him again, spending several minutes taking advantage of Ichigo’s post orgasm bliss to ravage his mouth.  When he had to breathe he moved back and grinned.  “Your prostate, babe.  Very sensitive to stimulation, almost as much as the tip of your cock.”

Ichigo nodded. He’d never heard of such things, of course, but it felt really good.  He glanced to Grimmjow’s bulging jeans and reached a tentative hand toward him, unsure if it was okay.  He’d never touched, or even seen, another man before.  Grimmjow shifted, putting leg propped up in the seat and popped the button on his own jeans and took his hand, gently guiding it into his pants.  Ichigo was nervous, but curious.  He had no idea what to do, though he knew what he liked when he did it to himself…

Grimmjow leaned back a bit as Ichigo’s hand reached down and grasped him.  He looked up with wide eyes.

“You…wow.  That’s…” he said as he stroked him inside the jeans. 

“Yeah, I know,” he said with a sideways grin.  “Don’t be scared.  It will fit, when you’re ready for that,” he said, stroking Ichigo’s cheek softly.  “And it will feel amazingly good, too.  Like what fingering felt like but so much better for both of us.”

Ichigo blushed and nodded, pulling Grimmjow up from his pants and stared.  He was huge.  He had no idea they could be that size, to be honest, but then, he only knew of his own penis size.  It wasn’t that he was small, he just wasn’t…that.  He swallowed and a few minutes later, Grimmjow nearly growled as he came into Ichigo’s hand and Ichigo looked at him with a shocked and surprised expression.

Grimmjow snickered at the look.  “What?  You didn’t think you’d get me off, babe?  Really?”

Ichigo shook his head as Grimmjow grabbed several more napkins and started to wipe Ichigo’s hand but Ichigo was staring with a frown at it in an unusual way.  Grimmjow tilted his head to the side and cleaned himself off, and then to his surprise, Ichigo licked his cum right off his hand slowly and thoughtfully.  Grimmjow had to mentally quell another wave of arousal at that sight.  Ichigo looked up at him and blushed.

“Oh, that was probably not right, that…that’s probably gross…” he said softly, wiping his hand off on his jeans and looking away.  It hadn’t tasted bad, though, he thought.  To his surprise it was musky and salty, but not entirely bad.  It certainly tasted a lot better than when Tatsuki had made him eat her out...

“No, babe, that was hot as fuck,” Grimmjow said, leaning over and planting a deep kiss on him.  Ichigo gasped and pushed him back with both hands.  “Why’d you do that, I just…I licked…and it was your…”

Grimmjow laughed again.  “Babe, I fully intend to suck you off and swallow you down so many times, and put my tongue up inside your sweet, tight ass until you’re screaming, I don’t care if you’ve got my cum on your breath.  I had my way, you would always taste like my cum when I kissed you.”

Ichigo again blushed, this time covering his face with both hands in complete embarrassment.  Grimmjow laughed out loud and pulled him closer and they just sat there, close and together for the rest of the night.  When Ichigo got home the next morning, he was again, floating on air.  Was this what loving someone felt like?  He had no idea.  He fell into the bed thinking about Grimmjow’s face, and realized it was the only thing he could think of at all.  Had he really only known him a week?

Again, Ichigo didn’t hear the door, and later, didn’t notice that the laundry hamper had been gone through, and his pants, stained with evidence of his activity with Grimmjow from that night inside and out, were on the top when he gathered them to wash before he went back to the pub that night.  Tonight he was going to be finishing up Shinji’s office after he spent the time from seven until nine learning how to be a barista in the coffee house. 

He worked that night, learning the difference between latte and cappuccino and what exactly a café Americano and what the hell breve, biscotti, and panini meant.  It was fun, but he noticed that Shinji had him learning from Rose.   Shinji was observant and had easily realized he wasn’t quite comfortable with women at all.  When the night was done, he leaned how to clean up and he went into Shinji’s office to wrap up what he began.  Grimmjow wasn’t coming tonight, unfortunately, but he knew he’d see him again soon.  The rest of the night flew by as he learned how to serve food from the pub kitchens and bus tables and bid everyone good morning and headed home.

It was about five am when he slipped into the apartment, and he was actually earlier than normal this time.  He locked it and was about to turn around when he felt a large hand cover his mouth.  He reached up and grabbed it but heard someone shush him and was spun around.  He blinked and saw Tatsuki sitting, completely naked, in the large living room chair.  Behind her was a shorter man with bright green eyes and pale skin. 

“Well, good morning, slut,” she said with a grin.  Ichigo’s eyes went wide.  What did she know?

“I got this text the other day, asking if we broke up, and got this cute little picture of you almost sucking face with some blue haired man I’ve never seen.  Surprise me, huh?” she said, shifting, shifting and stroking the pale man’s hand.  “Then you were wearing my clothes, and coming home with cum soaked pants.  So is it just one man or are you sucking face with all the men you come across?  And do you charge for the handjobs and blowjobs or are those just perks of your new love of being a fag?”

Ichigo shook his head in the grip of the man that held him.  Tatsuki sighed.  “See, I don’t believe you anyway, so it doesn’t matter.  Since you’ve decided you want to be a fucking fag, then you can be treated like one.  My friends here have agreed to pop your cherry since you haven’t been able to go that far.”

Ichigo was shocked silent anyway, he didn’t need the hand over his mouth.  He saw the red rimmed eyes and knew she’d been doing coke again, or speed balls.  It was hard to tell what she was high on. The green eyed man leaned down and began kissing her neckline and Ichigo’s eyes went wide.  Wait, so…  He swallowed.  He was so stupid.  Of course she was sleeping with other men, why wouldn’t she be?  He whimpered when he felt something hard in his lower back and he knew what that was.  He shook his head, or tried to in the other man’s grip.

Tatsuki pulled the green eyed man into a kiss, then looked at the man behind Ichigo.  “Fuck him until he screams, Nnoitra.  Then make him scream some more,” she said, and smiled sweetly at Ichigo before she stood up and let the other man sit down. “Ulquiorra can fuck me while you do him.”

“Of course, dear, anything you desire,” the man behind him said and Ichigo tried to get the leverage to throw him, but the angle was wrong.  It wasn’t like he could handle that kind of torque on his bad knee anyway.

A moment later he was pinned to the ground by Nnoitra.  He looked up to see he was a tall, very thin man with black hair and a patch over his eye.  He swallowed and felt something being wrapped around his wrists and looked up to see his hand being secured to the foot rail of the breakfast bar.  This was happening.  This was really happening, he thought as he whined.  The hand was gone, busy tying him, but he couldn’t put words together.

“No, stop…Tatsuki!  Arisawa, no!” he screamed finally and was rewarded with a harsh punch to the face from the long lanky man above him.  Blood exploded inside his mouth and his nose went numb.  He could hear Tatsuki let out a long drawn out moan that he recognized all too well.  They were fucking right in the chair, and he was about to…no…this wasn’t happening.  She couldn’t do this to him.  He loved her.

He heard the text alert on his phone just as his pants were ripped from him by strong, long fingers that left long scratches on his hips and down the front of his thighs.  Shit, that was Shinji…and Shinji would worry if he didn’t answer…he always texted him to make sure he got home okay.  His mind was completely off the subject of his phone a moment as he felt a bony finger wriggle its way into him.  He gasped and arched because when Grimmjow had done it, it felt good, this felt completely different and he wanted him off him.

“Don’t prep him, Nnoi, he doesn’t deserve it,” he heard Tatsuki say between pants and moans. 

Nnoitra looked back at her.  “That’s a little much, ain’t it?  I mean, he’s a fuckin’ virgin here…”

She looked at him where she sat riding Ulquiorra vigorously facing the scene in front of her.  “Do it, fuck…oh Ulqie!  Fuck him, Nnoi, and I want to watch it.  I want to see him scream.”

Nnoitra hesitated.  He looked down at Ichigo’s wide eyes at the prospect, but what could he do?  He bit his lip and moved so he was parallel to the bar, in Tatsuki’s view as she was pleasured by his green eyed boyfriend.  She was watching every move.  There was only one thing to do because they had agreed to this plan of hers.  If they hadn’t, there was a very good chance she would have beat the boy to death instead.  They were under orders to keep him alive, and if that meant he had to fuck him while she watched, that’s what he had to do.

“Well, I’m gonna fuck his mouth first, bitch, I don’t like goin’ in completely dry, fuckin’ catch my pubes on fire, dammit,” he said, moving over his mouth looking down at him.  He pushed his thumb into the corner of his mouth to wedge it open as he struggled against the ropes and slowly slid down his throat.  Ichigo gagged and his eyes watered.  Nnoitra put his hand on his shoulder in a surprisingly gentle touch.  For some reason, he wanted to let him know it wasn’t his idea.

Nnoitra was a bastard, and would fuck anything that had two legs at the drop of a hat, but he wasn’t sadistic like this bitch.  He had known she liked to do some messed up shit.  But this…  He stopped when he started gagging harder and looked like he wasn’t able to take it anymore and moved down between his legs.  He glanced up at him as he coughed and sputtered to get his breath again and decided to get this over as quickly as he could.  He lifted up his hips and slammed himself into him in one hard thrust.  No matter what he did, it was going to hurt him a lot.  He really didn’t expect the overwhelming tightness and groaned out in pleasure despite his misgivings.  He couldn’t say it was morality; he didn’t have that at all.  But something about this smacked of him being used.  And Nnoitra didn’t like being used.

Ichigo screeched and arched at the hard entrance and panted against the pain.  That hurt more than he could have imagined.  He writhed against him and tried to pull away, but he couldn’t, he was trapped under a much stronger man, and tied.  Tatsuki was grinning as she gyrated on Ulquiorra’s lap.  Nnoitra sighed and continued.  There was no pleasure to be had for the boy under him.  He already felt the wetness seeping around his cock, but that meant at least it would hurt less.  He sped himself to his release finally as Ichigo had been reduced to sobbing into his arm by that point.  He leaned up before he pulled out of him and spoke into his ear.

“Fuck, sorry kid, really,” he breathed as he sat up, turning to her.

“Now, you come lick your dirty boy’s cum out of me until I go again, Nnoi.  Ulquiorra, have your fun with my slutty little boyfriend now,” she said and Nnoitra wanted to stop him, but it was that or let Tatsuki beat him half to death.

Nnoitra kneeled between her legs and did as she asked.  It wasn’t that he minded doing this after Ulquiorra had had her before, wasn’t like he minded.  He tried instead to focus on what he was doing and ignore the choked cries from behind him as Ulquiorra used the boy as he had.  At least Ulquiorra had a hair trigger when he was fucking a boy so it only took a couple minutes before he had stood back up and she came thanks to Nnoitra’s tongue. 

She got up and dressed slowly.  She stood for a long moment staring down at the boy on the floor.  He was hiding his face in his elbow, curled onto his side and trying to pretend it wasn’t happening.  She smiled wickedly and kicked him soundly in the ribs.  Nnoitra flinched as she continued, repeating the action until he screamed, and he heard a crack.  She had to have kicked him seven or eight times.  She kneeled over him and then punched him across the jaw hard.  She then kneeled and forced his face toward her.  He was bruised and bleeding and tears still streamed from his eyes.

“When I come back, be gone.  Don’t care where the fuck you go.  Get the fuck out of here.  If I see you again, I’ll kick your ass until you can’t walk again.  Not that I’m sure you’ll be able to walk anytime soon,” she said and landed a solid punch on him that sent him into unconsciousness.

She stood up and looked at the others.  “Let’s go,” she said.

Nnoitra looked back.  “Shouldn’t we, like untie him?”

She looked back.  “No.  If he’s still here when I come back tomorrow, I’ll let him go.  Maybe.”

With that she headed to her room, probably to grab clothes.  Nnoitra glanced at the phone discarded on the counter, flipping it open.  There were new texts from a contact named Shinji.

      _Shinji: You home yet?_

_Shinji: Ichigo?  If you don’t answer, I’m sending Grimmjow over._

_Shinji: Grimmjow’s on his way, answer, please, he’s already worried._ The timestamp was about five minutes ago.

Nnoitra closed the phone nodding.  At least he wouldn’t be alone for long.  Tatsuki looked at him, pulling her purse from the counter beside the phone. He shook his head and they were on their way again, locking the door behind them.  Nnoitra may have found this distasteful but his mission had been successful.  She hadn’t killed him.  As they walked away Ulquiorra gave him a glance that said the same thing.  This bitch was trouble.


	6. History of Loss

“Grimmjow?” Shinji’s voice sounded off as the bluenette answered the phone.

Grimmjow hadn’t been at the pub last night, though he planned to go tonight to see Ichi again.  He had been working part time the last few weeks at Las Noches as a bartender, so on those nights he couldn’t be at the Rukongai.  The reason he was doing it was simple; he was working for Byakuya as an undercover plant to keep an eye on what went on.  He couldn’t tell Ichigo what he was doing, of course, and he actually colored his hair with a black wash on those nights he worked there.  All he was doing was information gathering, but it was better that he wasn’t recognized.

“Yeah, what’s up, Shin?” he asked, shifting his towel.  He’d just got out of the shower after washing the black junk out of his hair.

“Yeah, any way you can go by and check on Ichigo?” Grimmjow could feel the tightness in his voice even over the phone.

“Sure, what’s up?” he asked, curious now, and more than a little bit worried.

“Well, I text him when he gets back home after he leaves here.  Just to make sure nothing’s going on. And it’s been an hour and I’ve heard nothing,” he said, and paused.  “He always texts me back right away, Grimm.”

“Think he lost his phone or something?” Grimmjow asked, already grabbing clothes and getting dressed.  He wasn’t sure if they were dirty or clean, he couldn’t think about that now.

“I don’t know, just can you go over there?”  Grimmjow stopped cold, because if Shinji was asking him to go over to Ichigo’s place, that meant he was sure something was wrong.  Even Grimmjow knew that a strange person showing up at his apartment would be bad for him.

“Yeah, gimme his address,” he said, grabbing a pad and pencil off the counter.  He scribbled it down and put away the phone slowly with his heart pounding in his ears loudly.  Surely there wasn’t anything wrong.  Right?

Grimmjow’s hopes that nothing was wrong came crashing down fifteen minutes later when he stood in front of Ichigo’s apartment door.  He looked at the paper again.  This was it, number 5C.  He knocked, but there was no answer.  That was never a good sign, so he reached down and grabbed the knob.  He frowned and pulled back his hand, noting that there was something sticky on the underside of the knob.  He held up his hand and winced.  Red.  Blood.  He knocked again and when there was no answer he stepped back and rammed the door with his shoulder, feeling the cheap lock give easily and the door popped open.  He gagged on the smell in the room.  It smelled of sex and copper pennies…no…blood.

He winced because he heard breathing past the bar that separated the kitchen from the living room.  He bit his lip and hoped that he wasn’t too late because a fear was steadily building in his chest.  He nearly sobbed as he came around and dropped to his knees beside Ichigo.  He took a shuddering breath and wasn’t sure what to do.  He pulled out his phone and dialed his godfather.

“Yah?” came the upbeat answer.

“Kisuke, I…I need your help…I don’t know what to do…I…” he stammered, hand hovering over Ichigo’s unconscious body.

“Calm down, boy,” Kisuke said sternly.  “Tell me what’s going on.”

Grimmjow swallowed hard.  “Ichigo.  He didn’t answer.  I came to see what happened.  He’s hurt.  He’s unconscious.”

“Tell me what you see, son.  I’m already headed to the clinic.  I am going to have you bring him there, but first I have to make sure you can take him safely.  Otherwise, you’ll need to call an ambulance.  Now, tell me what you see,” Kisuke said and Grimmjow could tell he’d switched to his Bluetooth headset.

“Okay, okay…” Grimmjow said, looking him over.  “Um, his face is bruised, mouth is swelling, his breathing sounds funny…I think…oh Kisuke…he…oh…”

“Calm down, Grimmjow,” he said and Grimmjow heard the car start.  “Put the phone close to his mouth and then his chest.”

Grimmjow nodded mechanically and did as he asked and then put it back to his ear.  “Was that enough?”

“Can you see his chest?  It sounds like pressure on his lungs, does he have a broken rib?” Kisuke asked.

Grimmjow pulled the t-shirt up and grimaced.  “I don’t know, his…his ribcage is purple…maybe.”

“Tell me what you think happened.  We need to make sure before you move him that he hasn’t had a head, neck or spinal injury.  Sounds like he may have bruised or fractured ribs.  He doesn’t sound like he has a punctured lung, though,” Kisuke said.

Grimmjow paused for a long moment.  “He…hands are tied, he’s on his back, and I don’t think his back is injured…he…he’s…Kisuke…”

Kisuke sighed over the line.  “Wrap him up in a blanket or a sheet and keep him warm, he may go into shock if you don’t.  Preserve any evidence, Grimm, you know this.  Leave what he’s been tied with, and snap pictures with your phone before you move him if you can.  I’ll see you when you get here.”

The phone clicked off and Grimmjow quickly snapped rapid fire pictures as he stood up and went to get a blanket from the bedroom.  He grabbed a kitchen knife and sliced the nylon rope at his hands and then wrapped the sheet around him and picked him up carefully in his arms.  He bit his lip with the effort.  He took off out the door as fast as he dared, knowing that if his ribs were hurt rushing would cause him more problems.  He managed to have the thought to stop and pull the door closed behind him.  He took the elevator down and hurried to his SUV and loaded him carefully in the back seat, taking the time to buckle the seatbelt over him so he didn’t tumble into the floor.

A few minutes later he pulled into the alley behind the clinic and saw his godfather waiting at the back entrance.  He unbelted Ichigo and moved as quickly as he dared into the building and to one of the exam rooms.  The clinic wasn’t open yet, of course.

He put Ichigo down on the bed and Kisuke came in and glanced at him and shook his head.  “Grimmjow, can you handle assisting me?  None of the nurses are here yet, and I don’t know sending him to the ER is a safe thing if what you heard at Las Noches is true.”

Kisuke Urahara was also working with the police on the Las Noches case.  The reason was because Kisuke often did free and low price work for people, and he often had the junkies and victims of Las Noches’ drug overdoses come through his clinic.  Because of that, he knew that one of the names Grimmjow had overheard spoken in Las Noches was Arisawa Tatsuki, Ichigo’s abusive girlfriend. Kisuke had been in the loop on it ever since he reported the first incident of treating Ichigo. 

“I can,” Grimmjow nodded.  “I can.”

“Okay because we have to do this right, that means I’ve got to do the evidence collection kit, so you’re going to have to help me,” Kisuke said seriously, gauging if he thought Grimmjow could handle what he needed.  “Otherwise I can’t do this here and it will take longer before he can be fixed up.”

Grimmjow nodded resolutely. “I can do this.”

Kisuke nodded.  He could see that he would be able to handle this. He could also see that the man was smitten completely.  He smiled and turned to the cabinet where he kept the sex assault kits on the shelf.  He turned back to Grimmjow.  “First, we’re going to triage the wounds.  Then we treat things that need to be done now.  Finally I take the evidence kit.  Now, unwrap the sheet, and I’ll cut off the shirt he’s got on, and we’ll go from there.”

Grimmjow nodded and pulled away the sheet, resisting the urge to growl under his breath at the state he was in.   He winced as Kisuke sliced up the shirt and pulled it open slowly.  He sighed.  Ichigo was still mostly unconscious but he was starting to stir, but Grimmjow really was wishing he would stay out until they were done.  Kisuke checked over his ribcage.

“Couple bruises and one cracked, but not completely through, so no danger of a punctured lung.  I’ll leave it until we take the skin brushing for the evidence kit.  Okay, no stitches needed here,” he said, checking his lip where it had split.  “The nose is going to need to be set properly, but that can wait.  The weeping wounds on the wrists need to be cared for, but again, we need to take the evidence kit.”

First, he started a saline drip with a healthy dose of antibiotics and valium with an analgesic for the pain. Hopefully, he stayed calm through the entire procedure; however there was no guarantees on the issue.  Kisuke grabbed a sheet and draped it over Ichigo’s midsection and then pulled out the stirrups on the bed, and pulled him down into the end and grabbed the kit and began working on the collection of evidence. 

Kisuke got finished with the combing and skin brushing relatively quickly and sealed the bags with the evidence.  He pulled Ichigo down to the end and looked up at Grimmjow.  “Son, you are going to have to keep him calm if he wakes up.  I’ve given him some valium, but I’ve got to do this for two reasons.  First, we need to collect the evidence as soon as possible but I also need to check for any internal or external tearing sustained from the attack.  Most victims don’t react well to this, and I’m hoping that he ends up sleeping through it.”

Grimmjow nodded, pulling his stool close to Ichigo’s head and putting one arm over his head and rest a hand on his shoulder.  He couldn’t look at what Kisuke was doing because it would only confirm what he knew had happened. 

It was inevitable that Ichigo would choose the worst possible moment to come back to consciousness with a jolt.  Kisuke put a hand on his thigh and looked up as Grimmjow tried to calm him.  His eyes were darting back and forth until they locked on Grimmjow’s eyes.  Grimmjow squeezed his hand and smiled at him.

“Ichigo, baby, it’s okay, you’re at the doctor’s okay, it’s over, Kisuke’s checking to make sure there’s nothing seriously wrong with you, okay?” he said stroked his head gently.  “Gotta stay still and let him finish, okay?”

Ichigo swallowed hard, his eyes still wide and staring as he nodded a little then his face twisted in obvious pain.  “It hurts,” he mumbled around the swollen lip.

“Ichigo, I’m sorry, son but this is going to hurt a little bit, okay?” Kisuke said.  “But I have to see how serious this is, so please, bear with me, just my instrument.  A little pressure, okay?”

Grimmjow felt Ichigo stiffen and turn his face into Grimmjow’s chest and whine low in his throat.  Kisuke looked up with an apologetic look at Grimmjow’s worried face.  Grimmjow felt him breathing hard against him for bit as Kisuke did whatever it was he was doing.  A few moments later, Ichigo’s arms were gripping him tightly and he felt tears warm and wet against his arm.  He wasn’t sure if it was pain or embarrassment, but either one was sufficient cause in Grimmjow’s mind.  Finally, there was a clink of metal on metal and Kisuke placed the sealed box on the instrument table beside the used tools.  He stood up and moved away, removing his gloves, which Grimmjow flinched when he saw how bloody they were after all.

“Ichigo, here, you can scoot back up, let Grimm help you,” he said, putting the stirrups back into the table as Grimmjow helped him slide back up on the table and covering him with the blanket.

Kisuke pulled up beside where Grimmjow sat, cradling his upper body. 

“Ichigo, you’ve got some serious injuries, and you don’t have to talk right now.  I can tell pretty obviously what happened,” he said softly.  Ichigo nodded, new tears springing to his eyes.  “I need to take some blood to make sure you haven’t contracted anything, okay?  Then I’m going to ask you to rest.  Do you have somewhere to go?”

Ichigo shook his head slowly.  “I don wanna go to Shinji’s…not like this…” he whispered.

“Ichigo, do you feel comfortable enough to stay with Grimmjow and Nel?” Kisuke said softly.

Ichigo nodded slowly.  Kisuke glanced at Grimmjow and knew that both he and Nel would gladly take him in.  He couldn’t go home back to that place again.  Kisuke grabbed the last of the paperwork for the kit and got the last part over with.

 “Ichigo, did you know the person that did this?” Kisuke said gently. 

“N-not the men…” Ichigo said softly.  “Ar…Arisawa made them…she-she watched them…t-told them to hurt me…they tied me up and I couldn’t move…”

Kisuke jotted the notes down and then had Grimmjow help him wrap Ichigo’s ribs and then his wrists with some salve on them.  “I already used some salve on the other injuries, Ichigo.  You’ve got a couple small internal tears and a slight tear to the exterior muscle.  You’re going to have a bit of pain for a while down there, so make sure you drink a lot of water and stick to a bland diet for about a week or so.”

Ichigo nodded, staring at his hands.  Kisuke sighed, already seeing the emotional trauma on the boy’s face.  He turned to his godson.  “Grimmjow, here,” he said passing a small folder.  “Instructions on treating his injuries.  Here are some medications and a bath soak he should use every night until the pain is gone.  Make sure he takes the pain medication for the first day especially.  The tearing isn’t life threatening but it is painful, and he’ll bleed some more, so keep an eye on it.  You should leave before my nurses arrive and start asking questions.”

Kisuke tied off his arm and took blood quickly and then nodded to his godson as he turned to grab something from a drawer.  Grimmjow helped Ichigo sit up slowly, with obvious discomfort.  Kisuke handed Grimmjow a couple of gowns and he put one on from the front and another from the back on Ichigo.  Grimmjow was slightly worried because he wasn’t talking and barely reacting, almost as though he was shocked into silent compliance.  Grimmjow didn’t like that at all.  He shook his head and then reached over and snatched Ichigo up into his arms.  Ichigo, though, didn’t seem surprised or shocked, he just clung to Grimmjow tightly. 

“Hurry, I’ll get the kit directly to Miss Kuchiki’s office. I’ll call you.  Take the files, though,” he said, handing him a couple thicker files.  He handed him a bag.  “Medications he’ll need.  Use them according to the directions I put in the file.  Call me if there’s a lot of blood, like enough to soak through a towel under him, or just call if you have questions.”

Grimmjow took them and headed back out to his SUV.  He put Ichigo into the front seat as gently as he could but he groaned when he reached across with the belt.  “Sorry baby,” he said softly.  “I’m sorry.” 

Grimmjow shut the door and went to walk around the car, but he stopped when he got to other side and paused, putting his hand on the back of the SUV’s rear window and breathing out slowly.  He almost, almost but not quite, lost his balance.  He swallowed the bile that was rising in his throat that was threatening to overwhelm him.  He couldn’t mess up.  He had to help him through this, and he was honeslty afraid he wasn’t going to be good enough to do this.  Would he be better off without him?  No, no, he couldn’t even think that.  Ichigo had been through the worst thing Grimmjow could imagine someone going through in life, and it didn’t matter what a screw up he normally was.  He had to do this right.

Grimmjow’s past was questionable by most people’s standards.  He’d been in and out of trouble since he was twelve years old, and spent more time in juvenile than most his peers.  He was big and powerful, and he had been easy to manipulate when he was young and stupid.  His piercings and tattoos had all come because of gangs and violence.  He had kept every one of them as a reminder of where he’d been and how far he’d come. That was how he knew about Las Noches and Aizen.  At once point, he had dealt drugs for him.  Luckily, he’d got out of it, with the help of his sister.

Now, he was helping the people that had helped him.  In doing that, though, he hadn’t been there for Ichigo.  He should have kept him from going back to her.  He should have done something, anything to keep him away from her. Now she had obviously gotten her drug dealers to come and take out her sadistic vengeance on Ichigo for daring to try and get away from her.  He reached up and wiped away tears and looked up.  Dammit, he didn’t cry.  He wasn’t crying for himself, though.  He was crying for Ichi, the boy that had very quickly become his everything, his baby…

He screwed up his nerve and went around and got into the driver’s seat.  He glanced over to see Ichigo was staring out the window beside him silently, and he wanted to say something.  Grimmjow just didn’t have the words.

Before long, they were at his building and he went around and lifted Ichigo from the car, garnering more than one of his neighbors to glance at him carrying a hospital gown clad boy into the building.  To his surprise, before he even got into the elevator, Ichigo’s head had gone slack against his shoulder and he’d fallen into a deep sleep.  He smiled and stepped into the elevator with several other people from the building.  They’d gotten used to seeing Grimmjow, over the last year, but now they couldn’t help but stare at him.  He got off on the third floor where their apartment was and headed down and found that the door was locked.  Of course it was locked, Nel was home alone.  He couldn’t get to his keys without waking Ichigo so he kicked the door a couple times. 

Nel opened it after a few minutes, obviously still asleep, but she snapped fully awake when she saw Ichigo.  She stepped back and held the door to let him in without another word and ran past her brother to grab sheets and pillows to put on the sofa.  Grimmjow stood patiently and waited as she fixed up a cozy place on the couch.  Grimmjow put him down as gently as he could, but even with all the care he used, Ichigo’s face twisted in pain. He covered him and then nodded to Nel and they went into the front where the table was. 

“What happened to him?” she gasped.  “Did she do that to him?”

Grimmjow sat down and dropped his head into his hands.  “She did.” 

He handed her Kisuke’s file.  She thumbed through it and let out a gasping sob.  “No,” she said, looking up from the file to Grimmjow and back down.  “Oh no, oh gods, no…”

Grimmjow nodded.  “I shouldn’t have let him go back.  I should have made him stay with Shinji or us or anything.  He shouldn’t have gone back.  I should have stopped him, I should…”

Nel came around and put an arm around him and shook her head. “No, don’t do this, don’t do this.  This is not your fault any more than it is Ichigo’s fault.  Don’t do this to yourself, Grimmy.  You can’t.  The only one that is at fault is that horrible bitch that if I ever see I’m afraid you’ll be bailing me out of jail for assault and battery.”

“I wouldn’t mind,” he said softly, looking at her.

She picked up her phone and texted Byakuya.  A moment later she looked up.  “They’re on their way to pick up the files.  ‘Kuya’s sister already told him Kissy had a kit for her.  He seems to think this might have to do with what’s going on at Las Noches.”

Grimmjow shook his head.  “How could this be connected?  This is just this Tatsuki bitch.”

She shook her head.  “I don’t know. You know ‘Kuya’s people.  He’s got them so deep undercover they’re unrecognizable as cops anymore.”

“Yeah,” he said, swallowing bile that threatened to rise in his throat.  “Sissy, when I saw him, I just…I couldn’t think…the blood and he was so scared, Sissy when he woke up.  I didn’t…I don’t want to lose someone else, Sissy.”

Nel put an arm around him.  “You won’t, Grimmy, you won’t.  He’s not lost.  He’s right in there on our sofa.”

Grimmjow looked up.  “But she was too, Sissy.  And she killed herself and I couldn’t stop her.”

Nel bit her lip.  Four years ago, Grimmjow’s fiancé committed suicide in the house they shared.  He’d done everything for her, and then, someone from Grimmjow’s past showed up and beat him nearly to death.  That someone, a man named Zommari Rereaux, one of Sosuke Aizen’s enforcers, had been sent to punish Grimmjow for leaving his employ.  Yoshino Sōma had been everything to Grimmjow, and he’d done everything for her.  She wasn’t supposed to be home, she wasn’t supposed to come home that afternoon, but she did.  Zommari decided to force Grimmjow to watch as he beat and raped her right in front of him.  He was so beaten he couldn’t stand to even begin to stop him.  She wasn’t the same afterward, and then two months, he’d come home to find her in the bath with her wrists cut.  He tried to save her, but it was too late.  Byakuya had done everything he could, but Aizen’s lawyers had managed to get the case dismissed on the basis of an error in the evidence processing.

Grimmjow had spent the next three years in a pill bottle.  Prescription drug addiction was how it began, but it soon it escalated into opiates and heroine.  One year ago, at Nel’s begging, he’d moved in with her and gotten clean at an outpatient clinic at the local hospital.  He’d been clean for six months, with the most he touched being a beer or two at the pub when they went out.  He had immediately taken Byakuya up on the offer to help bring down Aizen’s drug ring in exchange for clearing his name and expunging his record.

      Nel looked up as a gentle knock resounded at the door.  She patted Grimmjow’s back and answered it to find both Renji and Byakuya standing there.  Renji pushed past Byakuya and rushed into the living room where Ichigo was still sleeping.  He sat down on the coffee table and just watched for a moment before he looked up at his lover.

Byakuya came over and looked down at him and Renji recognized the look of brewing anger.  It was a storm in his eyes.  He moved over to the table and picked up the files.  “Rukia said Urahara sent the rape kit to her already by way of a patrolman she had dispatched to pick it up.”

Grimmjow nodded and handed Byakuya his phone.  “Photos before I picked him up.”

Byakuya nodded, thumbing through them and then sending them to his own phone.  “This is violent and calculated, Grimmjow,” he said finally, putting down both the phone and the files.  “What did he say?”

“He didn’t know the men, plural.  He said that she made them do it while she watched,” Grimmjow said quietly.

“Any idea who they are?” Byakuya asked slowly.

“He didn’t say anything. All I know is I’ve overheard Tatsuki’s name in Las Noches.  I don’t know what she looks like, and for all I know she could have been in there and I could have served her,” he said, rubbing his face.

Byakuya picked up his phone and thumbed through something and handed it to Grimmjow.  It was a mugshot of a woman with short black hair.

“That’s her?” Grimmjow asked.  “I have seen her.  She’s been in the club with Aizen.  I mean _with_ him.  Practically fucking him in the booth and I think at least once she gave him a blowjob under the table.  She’s always hopped up on coke or whatever she can get her hands on.  They call her Tats.  I thought she had tattoos somewhere, I had no idea that it was part of her name…”

“That was a couple years ago, picked up on coke possession.  She spent the night in the holding cell, paid her fine, and hasn’t been picked up again since then,” Byakuya said, taking his phone back.  “So most likely whoever did this was on Aizen’s crew.  He’s off in South Africa, so he wasn’t directly involved.  I’ll leave Renji here, he’s off today.  I’ll take this down to the precinct.”

Byakuya got up and left with the files and his phone to put the case together.  He would still have Rukia come interview Ichigo when he was conscious, that was her division after all.  He sighed, leaving quietly.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Sōsuke Aizen got out of his limo in front of Las Noches and sighed.  It was packed, of course.  It was a weekend, after all.  He went in made his way to the back room past all the dancers, patrons and went into his office.  Gin Ichimaru, his main lieutenant and right hand man stood as he entered.  He smiled, walking around the and bowing to his boss.

“Was the trip fruitful?” Gin asked with a wide smile.

Aizen sighed and sat down in his desk.  “Very glad to be back.  Set up a useful pipeline, though.  Anything I should know about?”

“Ah, yes, Aizen-sama…there was an incident with the subject,” Gin said, his grin fading.

Aizen, who had been signing some paperwork, snapped the pen in half.  “What?”

“Yes, it would seem that Nnoitra and Ulquiorra had to acquiesce to the woman’s whims…and it may have been more damaging to the subject than you are going to approve of,” Gin said in an almost sheepish tone.

Aizen’s jaw tightened.  “Are they here?”

“They’re on observation detail outside an apartment building he has been taken to by someone that might be a problem…” he said, frowning a bit.

“Gin, quick fucking with me.  Tell me what happened,” Aizen said, glaring up at the silver haired man.

“Your woman has been increasingly unpredictable as of late, I believe that the longer she goes without proper medication, the worse she is becoming.  Her violent outbursts are growing more problematic in the club as well as with the subject.  Subject went out without her permission, and she discovered this face, and was seen with the man he is currently with.  It seems they’ve forged a relationship of sort, and she told Nnoitra and Ulquiorra she was going to beat him until he couldn’t stand.  Nnoitra, believing that he needed to stop her from accidentally damaging the subject too much, suggested that if he was, I quote, ‘act like a faggot, he should be treated like one.’  She agreed, and had both the boys assault him as she watched.  She still assaulted him somewhat, but did not leave him with life threatening injuries,” Gin said, remaining slightly bowed beside the large desk.

“Who is he with?” Aizen said, gritting his teeth hard.

“Um, Grimmjow, apparently.  Nnoitra described him as ‘big, blue haired bastard’ so I believe that must be him,” Gin said softly.

Aizen slammed both fists into his desk.  “I go away for a week, and this happens.  Having him damaged may ruin my plans for White.  I _need him intact._   Fuck.  That bitch is worth nothing to me now, though, if he is with Grimmjow.  Next time she comes here, turn her away on the street.  I want nothing to do with her again.  Grimmjow won’t let the subject go.  It will become much more difficult to extract him when I need him to complete the tests.  The key to White is in his very blood, Gin, in his blood, his bones, and I need him alive.  More than that, he has to be mentally and physically healthy.  I need complete samples, and that includes neurotransmitters.  Weak is one thing, broken is a completely different thing.”

Gin nodded.  “Yes, sir, I understand, but the boys were in a difficult spot and unable to contact you.  I advised them to use their discretion.  They kept him alive, and now he will be away from the woman.”

Aizen nodded.  “I blame no one but the woman.  No one is to sell her anything from here out, and if they do, I’ll slit their neck, understood?”

“Of course,” Gin said, bowing out of the office and leaving Aizen to brood alone.

That slut, that whore, that fucking bitch…  She could have ruined everything because she couldn’t keep herself under control.  He grinned.  She would unravel quickly without the drugs to keep her in check.  She wouldn’t last a week before she ended up in jail for assaulting someone in a fit of rage.  Without Ichigo there to take out the irrational anger on, she would quickly seek out other people to use to vent her anger on.  He tented his fingers under his chin and thought.  Perhaps the trauma would accelerate matters.  The additional adrenaline, serotonin, and cortisol in the brain my mature the key further…  He’d need a blood sample to verify it, but if he was with Grimmjow, he wouldn’t be able to get near him anytime soon. 

Aizen sighed.  He supposed he’d have to have him kidnapped.  He hit the buzzer.  “Sir?” came a voice on the other end.

“Szayel, please come to my office,” he said with a smile.

A moment later, a door in the sidewall opened, and a man with bright pink hair tied up on the top of head and cascading down between his shoulders.  “Yes?” he said, bowing to Aizen.

“Accelerate the early stage testing with preliminary White,” he said nodding.

“Sir, without the proper DNA sequencing, the subjects are dying faster than I can administer the drug…” he said, frowning a bit.

“Continue anyway.  I’ll have Subject Beta in possession in the next week,” he said with a slight smile.

Szayel nodded.  “A shame that Subject Alpha had to be killed,” he said, glancing to the side.

“Alpha was too protective of Beta.  She couldn’t remain alive.  Besides, the antibodies transferred during pregnancy to Beta are more reactive to testing than the antibodies Alpha created in her own body.  There is magic in the womb, it is why I allowed that annoying Isshin to rescue her.  A shame that the transfer seems to have only occurred to one child…” he said thoughtfully.

Szayel frowned for a moment.  “You’ve yet to test the subject, how can you be sure?”

Aizen grinned.  “The marker is there.  It doesn’t happen often, but it happens now and again.  His eyes turn black and gold when he is severe enough distress.  I saw it when his mother died in front of him, both of them, the only distress great enough to bring out the effect.  I know it is there.  Now, please see to it that we arrange a kidnapping with the boys.  He’s too valuable to risk losing again.  I thought leaving him free was easier than holding him in a cell, but I do believe I may have been wrong.”

Szayel nodded, bowing and going back to the elevator that led down to the underground drug lab he ran.  He reached up and stopped the elevator between floors and pulled out his phone.  If he got caught, he would be killed.  He breathed deeply.  For Illfordt, this is for Illfordt, he thought to himself as he punched in the cryptic message that no one would understand except the person it was intended for.

Across town, a telephone buzzed that lay on a neat desk.  A small hand reached out and picked it up, glancing at the unexpected number.  One swipe and the message appeared.

_The wolf is to raid the hen house for the white bird soon.  His teeth are sharp and dripping venomous rage.  The fox allies with him, and the support has fallen from favor._

The hand tapped the screen and put the phone down on the nondescript desk.  It was a nondescript phone as well.  Honestly, the only thing on it that mattered was the ability to receive messages.  The delicate fingers caressed it and then moved to touch the soft, feminine lips upon the face of the woman sitting at the desk.  Short black hair framed her delicate face, and on the floor before the desk lay a man with his throat neatly slit and the hard drive on his computer being copied.

She sighed and straightened the black dress she was wearing and slipped the needle sharp dagger between her small breasts once again into the sheath strapped between them.  She heard the buzzing stop from the drive, and unplugged the tiny thing from the computer and slipped it into a pouch attached into her sleeve.  She stepped over the body and composed herself and slipped back out into the party, retrieving a phone and texting back to the lieutenant.

_Kuchiki, wolf is on the move, looking for the white bird.  Keep eyes sharp, we still don’t know who the white bird is._

There was no answer, but she expected none as she slipped the back off both the phones and removed their SIM cards and snapped them in half before dumping them and both phones into the dumpster in the back of the club.  She walked off into the dark before the screaming started inside the building.  One less major player in Aizen’s drug cartel, though, and one less dirty cop.  Soi Fon slipped into the river of people and went, as usual, unnoticed.  However, if the wolf was on the move, it was time for her to go in.  Her people would need pulling soon.


	7. Protection From Chaos

Grimmjow was a little worried when he didn’t wake up by the next morning.  He called his god father to make sure there wasn’t something wrong. Kisuke told him that after the shock and trauma, he might sleep into the next day easily, but to call him if he hadn’t stirred by noon.  Nel was hovering nonstop, checking for signs of distress or discomfort, but he was blissfully unconscious, most likely from the large dose of valium he’d gotten the day before.  Nel changed his dressings and his clothes the next evening and was a little distressed by the fact he was still bleeding some.  Grimmjow found it hard to convince her that Kisuke said not to worry unless it was a lot of blood.  Byakuya was supposed to try and come by that afternoon to speak with him if he could handle it.

Grimmjow was a few moments away from calling his god father when he heard a groan from the couch.  He rushed over and kneeled down beside him to see if he was indeed waking up.  Ichigo turned his head, his eyes still half lidded.

“Grimm?” he croaked dryly.  “Do…do you have some water?”

“Sure thing, baby, gimme a sec, okay?” Grimmjow said, going to get a cup and a straw from the kitchen and filling it with cold water from the fridge door.

Grimmjow returned and helped Ichigo fumble the straw into his mouth.  He still seemed out of it a bit and groggy, but he was at least somewhat lucid.  For that, Grimmjow was very grateful. Ichigo sucked down half the cup before he let go of the straw and panted hard and stared at the ceiling.  In the past day and night, his face near his jaw and around his eye had turned vivid red-purple, and his ribs were still dark and no doubt painful.

“Oh gods, I feel like a truck hit me,” he muttered, laying his head back on the pillow slowly, wincing at the pain when he laid his cheek on the pillow.

Grimmjow nodded.  “Yeah, you’ve got a broken rib, a fractured cheekbone, and bruises everywhere else.  She really did a number on your face, babe,” he said, softly, putting the cup down beside him on the coffee table.

Ichigo swallowed hard.  “She wanted me to hurt…she knew…she knew about you…and…” Ichigo stopped, clearing his throat as bile tried to crawl up it.

“What?  How the fuck did she find out about that?” he asked, blinking at him.  His heart started pounding in his ears hard.  Shit.  Holy shit.  This had happened because someone had seen them that the bitch knew?  Oh god…

“Dunno…she…she called me…a slut…and then told…them to…” he squeezed his eyes shut.  “I don’t know, I don’t know…but she found out, oh god she found out, I was so stupid…”

“No, no, if anyone’s to blame, it’s me…we shouldn’t have taken you there to start with…we shouldn’t have put you in danger like that…” he said, holding back his own rage and guilt at the situation.  He might as well have been the one to do this to him.  “I shouldn’t have even started flirting with you knowing what was happening.”

Ichigo reached up and grabbed his hands.  “No, don’t do that, I went because I wanted to go.  I danced because I wanted to dance.  I wouldn’t have done either if I didn’t really want to do it, okay?  I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you.  I just should have known.  She…she comes home high half the time, and I knew she ran with some people that weren’t great, and I didn’t think.  Any one of them could have been in the pub.  I’m kinda unique when it comes to features, after all.”

Ichigo groaned, shifting uncomfortably on the sofa.  Grimmjow leaned over and pulled a pill bottle from the bag Kisuke had given him.  He shook a couple out and handed it to him with a the cup of water.  “Here, Kisuke said to take these the first day or two.  He said you’d be in a lot of pain…well, you know.”

He took the pills gratefully, sucking down the rest of the cup of water before laying his head back again.  It was throbbing like crazy.  His insides felt hot, to be honest, and he was dreading when he had to get up and used the bathroom.  The thought alone made him wince.  He shifted again, trying to roll a bit. 

“Yeah, well, let’s just say if that’s what sex feels like, I don’t think I ever wanna do it again…” he said, looking away from Grimmjow in embarrassment.

Grimmjow smiled gently at his naivety. “It’s not supposed to hurt, baby.  They made it hurt.”

“Oh you would know,” he muttered, a blush spreading across his cheeks.  “You’ve never been the…the one that…you know…had that.”

“Haven’t had any complaints yet, so I must be doing something right,” Grimmjow said with a sideways grin that made Ichigo blush even darker.

Grimmjow patted him quickly on the shoulder and went to the kitchen to grab something light for him to eat.  There was a knock at the door and Grimmjow answered it.  Ichigo heard voices and then Shinji came around the couch carefully and gasped, his face twisted in a horrified look.

“Oh my god, Ichigo…” he said, sitting on the coffee table by him and grabbing his hand.

The pain meds had kicked in, and Ichigo looked up at the blond with lidded eyes.  “Hey, Shinji.  How are ya?  I feel really good, you know,” he said, blinking rapidly as he looked at him.

Grimmjow came back a moment later and sat down a bowl of broth on the table.  He then tried to help Ichigo up into a more upright position against the arm of the couch so he could eat something.  He sat down on the couch and began to feed him the broth slowly, coaxing him into opening his mouth.  Grimmjow smiled because apparently, Ichigo was sensitive to drugs.  Shinji just stared at the mess that had been made out of his face.  He glanced at Grimmjow who gave him a nod then nodded toward the table.  Shinji stood and headed over into the dining room, a little light headed at seeing his newest kid in such a state.  Ichigo fell asleep in the middle of eating so Grimmjow sat the bowl down and headed to talk to Shinji.

“What the hell happened?” Shinji asked, brow furrowed.  “Nel just said that he’d been injured and I could come by and see him.  She didn’t want to talk on the phone.  I had no idea…”

“His girlfriend worked him over,” Grimmjow said softly, glancing into the room.  Nel had gone to work as usual, someone had to, of course, so it was left to him to give explanation to Shinji.  “Apparently, someone told her about his new friends, and about me, and she decided to teach him a lesson.”

Shinji’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.  “Someone in _my_ place ratted on one of _my_ kids?”

“It gets worse.”  Grimmjow stared at his hands.  Shinji was going to flip.  In the short time Ichigo had been there, he’d gotten really attached to the kid.  It didn’t matter that he wasn’t living there yet, it was just a matter of time and they all knew it.

“How the fuck could it be worse than her beating his face in like that?” he asked, leaning back in the chair.  “What kind of injuries did he get?”

“Fractured cheekbone and a broken rib, from what she did,” he said with a sigh.  “But…Shinji…she wasn’t alone.  She had guys with her.  And…”  Grimmjow gritted his teeth.  “She had the fuckin’ guts to sit there and watched as they both had a go at him, Shinji.  Her fuckin’ boyfriend, and she had them fuckin’ rape him right in front of her.”

Shinji blinked.  He was having trouble comprehending what he was hearing.  “Who was it?”

“I don’t know, he hasn’t even described…”

Shinji stood up without another word and went over to sit down on the table again.  Grimmjow stood up and stood behind the sofa to watch.  Shinji leaned over him with a gentle look and shook him gently until he seemed to wake up a little and stare at him.

Ichigo looked up sleepily at Shinji and gave him a loopy grin.  “Hum, I like whatever Grimmy gave me…I feel a lot better.”

“Ichigo, what did the guys look like?” Shinji said with a stern streak to his voice that Grimmjow had never heard.  “This is important, what did the guys look like that she had hurt you?” he said, still holding onto his shoulders and looking at him.

Ichigo was so completely out of it on the Vicodin he’d been given that he barely had a response to what he was saying.  Truth be told, he and pain meds had a love hate relationship.  Ichigo swallowed, eyes rolling a bit before he stammered.  “Um…one was short, the other really, really tall…  Um…green eyes, ‘member that.  Oh…and that tall one had an eye patch er a bandana or sumthin’…” Ichigo’s eyes fluttered shut and he fell asleep once more.

Shinji stood up slowly and Grimmjow could already see the expression on his face that Shinji the flamboyant gay owner of a coffee house and microbrewery ever wore.  This was the face that Shinji the protector of his kids wore.  He turned to Grimmjow and nodded slowly.  “Come to the pub tonight, Grimmjow.  Don’t tell Byakuya or Renji, they can’t be there for this.  I won’t need any help.  But you can come if you want.  I know the fuckers goddamned well.  They’re two of Aizen’s enforcers, but never gave me any trouble so I never said anything.  They’re in the pub a lot lately, and I’ll bet they’re there tonight.  And if they are the ones who did this…I might just kill them both.”

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Nel got home not long after Shinji had left.  Ichigo had woken up a few times.  She helped him into the shower, and they got him washed up completely and he said it felt really good.  Nel was still fretting over the blood stains, but Grimmjow kept telling her that Kisuke said not to worry too much.  She still worried, though.  Finally, they got him settled, freshly bandaged and in clean pajamas instead of the hospital gowns, and he fell asleep again.  Grimmjow told his sister that he’d be back soon.  She tried to figure out what he was up to, but he diverted it, saying that he had to head to the Rukongai because Shinji asked him to be there.

He arrived to find it rather slow, and headed back to Shinji’s office, surprised to find four other people in residence of the large office already.  A man that wore a pink kimono over a business suit sat spinning idly in the desk chair in the corner.  A woman with glasses, a tablet in her hands, and her black hair pinned on top of her head was telling him he needed to stop being childish.  On the sofa by Shinji, a thin man with white hair sat talking to the blonde man.  Beside him was a young blonde boy, of perhaps thirteen with a tablet of some sort that was encased with a bright red looking rubber case.  He seemed engrossed in whatever was on the tablet.

Shinji looked up as Grimmjow opened the door and smiled at him.  “Grimm, I’d like you to meet some people.  This,” he gestured to the man who was now laying the chair back looking at them upside down over the back of it.  “This is Shunsui Kyōraku.  Nanao there is his executive assistant and female partner, and this here is Jushiro, and Jushiro is Shunsui’s male partner.  The young man is Wonderweiss, who your sister actually knows quite well since she placed him in this bunch’s care.”

Grimmjow nodded to each in turn.  “This is Grimmjow Jagerjaquez, Nel’s brother, actually.”

Jushiro smiled and stood up and gave a slight bow.  “Oh, well, quite the pleasure to meet you, then, your sister did a beautiful thing by helping us complete our family.”

Grimmjow smiled.  This was an unconventional family.  “So you are all together, huh?  Don’t see that often.”

Shunsui snorted.  “Nanao doesn’t sleep with Jushiro. So I guess we’re not really polyamorous.  More like I’m polyamorous and they aren’t.  I love them both, but my Nanao and my sweet Jushiro are more like siblings than lovers,” he said, still with his head hanging backward over the chair back.

There was a knock from the Dangai side.  Shinji got up and smiled at Hiryori who handed him a tray with coffees on it.  Shinji smiled.  “Café Americano Breve for Nanao.  An amaretto cappuccino for Jushiro.  A French vanilla bean coffee frappe, decaf, for Wonderweiss.  And a white chocolate mocha latte with two pumps of vanilla and three pumps of mint for Shunsui.  You have strange taste, Shunsui,” he said, handing out each one as he named them off.”

“So,” Grimmjow said slowly.

“Oh, just a moment, I’m just taking care of some business things with Shunsui; you see he’s one of the major investors that got this place started.  I forgot about it…”  Shinji paused and looked at the security camera, a sudden, placid look coming over his face.

Jushiro noted the change as he sipped his coffee.  “Shinji, what’s wrong?”

“They’re here,” he said tightly.  “They just came in.”

Grimmjow moved around and looked to see two guys he had seen before at Las Noches.  He had never heard their names so didn’t recognize them by name.  He frowned, having guessed from Ichigo’s short description that they were the same guys he’d seen.  Shinji growled.

“I’ll kill them.”

This time, everyone save the blond kid looked up.  Shunsui turned around and sat properly and looked at him.  “They haven’t been peddling drugs in here have they?”

“They messed with one of my kids,” Shinji said, standing slowly.  “They fucking _raped_ one of my kids and they are just walking in here like nothing is wrong.”

Jushiro and Shunsui exchanged glances.  “Wonderweiss, honey, we’ll go sit in the Dangai, got another half an hour before it closes, you can play your game there, right?” Jushiro said and stood up.

The boy stood mechanically and nodded, walking toward the door with no further prompting.  Shunsui and Nanao both followed them into the coffee house because they knew that what was coming was not good for a kid’s viewing.

Shinji was already moving before they were gone, slamming out the door into the Rukongai, shocking several patrons that were sitting near the back.  Grimmjow was right on Shinji’s heels as he headed straight for the table with the two men.  Shinji stopped in front of it and looked across at the man with one dark eye and the man with two bright green ones. Grimmjow felt out of place, but everyone was staring, even those that didn’t seem interested were staring at them now.  Nnoitra looked at Shinji.  They had crossed paths more than once when he tried to see drugs around here.  He gave it up.

“Shin, fuck man, what’s with that face?” Nnoitra said nervously with a grin.  “We ain’t been sellin’ in here, man, promise!”

“Nnoitra.  You fucked with the wrong person.”  Shinji’s voice was matter of face and there was no hesitation to it.          

Nnoitra looked at Ulquiorra as his grin faded.  He glanced up at Shinji again, still playing dumb.  “Whatcha meanin’, Shin?  We ain’t done nothing…” 

He didn’t finish, because before he could move, Shinji had flipped over the table, grabbing the Nnoitra by the shoulders and used his momentum to slam the chair and him into it onto the floor with a loud crash.  Nnoitra’s one eye was wide and staring.

“You ‘ain’t done nothing’?  You fuckin’ raped one of my kids.  What do you think that means for your pathetic, sorry asses?” Shinji’s face had taken on a hard line again.  Nnoitra was not going anywhere, both shoulders pinned under the smaller man’s knees and in an awkward position to get his long limbs into any sort of leverage.    

Ulquiorra had stood up, his normally impassive face showing vague distress.  Nnoitra was strong, and to see him flipped so easily was unsettling.  His green eyes settled on the furious blonde.  “Shinji, we were unaware that he was one of your kids.”     

Shinji turned his head to the shorter man.  “Was he working here?”            

Nnoitra swallowed hard.  “Yeah, but that didn’t mean…”    

  1.   The sick crack of the lanky man’s jaw resounded throughout the utterly silent building.  Considering that Shinji could break bricks with that same hand, it was no wonder the man’s jaw snapped.  It took a moment for realization that Shinji had moved and that his jaw was lit on fire to hit him.  He yelped and finally dislodged himself, standing up and cradling his mouth, blood dripping down his jaw into his hands.     



Ulquiorra watched as Shinji stood up slowly from his position on the floor, his eyes locking with the green ones before him.  Once more, he was too fast for most those nearby to watch as he shot out, arms and legs smoothly moving to take the smaller man and flip him, turning him and slamming him down and _through_ the oak table next to them.  There was a strangled cry from the small, pale man, surprising everyone in the room.  Ulquiorra stood slowly, staggering backward, blood gushing from the back of his head, and a couple other places where wood had splintered and cracked into his flesh.     

“You know the rules.  I told you.  I didn’t care who you worked for as long as you didn’t break my rules.  You. Don’t. Touch. My. Kids.  You don’t sell drugs to them.  You don’t fucking touch them.  I thought the rules were clear when you were let in here again?  I seem to have been mistaken,” he said, glaring at Nnoitra who was still cupping his jaw which was rapidly turning purple.       

Nnoitra tried to utter a muffled reply but winced at the pain shooting through his face.  Ulquiorra stepped back, obviously unsteady on his feet.  “Shinji, we really didn’t know what to do about it, and that bitch is something else.”        

Shinji cocked his head to the side, as though deciding if he was going to spring.  He looked like a wound too tight rubber band about ready to snap, taking someone’s head off in the process.  It wasn’t that he looked angry.  In fact, it was the lack of expression on his normally expressive face that made him more intimidating than any other look ever could.

“What does that mean?” he asked.

Ulquiorra glanced at Nnoitra, who shrugged.  “Aizen told us to make sure she didn’t kill him.  She found out about blue boy, not from us, and she went ballistic.  She wanted to beat him until he couldn’t stand.  We told her that wasn’t the way to go about it, so she came up with the idea to have us…do what we did.  She would have killed him, Shinji.  As it was, she almost did anyway.”        

“Get out.  Now.  Before you leave with less limbs than you came in with.  And watch your back.  Watch it very carefully,” he practically whispered the last, and the two didn’t need any more direction, they took off out the door immediately.

Grimmjow rested his hands on Shinji’s shoulders as he let out a shaky sigh.  “I was tempted to bash their skulls in,” he said softly.  “But if I did that, who would be there to help Ichigo pick up the pieces?”

Shinji nodded.  “Back to the Dangai.  I…I have to get out of here.”

Around them, the pub began to liven back up and the employees cleared the broken table and mess away before Shinji and Grimmjow had even gotten to Shinji’s office.  He walked over and came out into Dangai where Jushiro and Shunsui were cuddled up in the booth making out like teenagers while Nanao was busy with her tablet and Wonderweiss was sitting playing impassively on his.

“Take that to the bathroom, horny teenagers,” Shinji said as he plopped down across from them.  Shunsui and Jushiro both looked up.  Jushiro at least had the decency to blush.  Shunsui had no such decency and held tightly to the thinner man who was sitting on his lap.  “Whatever, Shinji.  You just want me to let you kiss him.”

Jushiro groaned, putting his hand over his face.  Grimmjow shook his head and looked at Shinji.  “What does all this mean?  What does Aizen care about Ichigo for?”

Shinji shook his head.  “I don’t know, but first thing tomorrow, Byakuya needs to come get the video and see what they said.”

Grimmjow nodded and stood. “I’m going back to see to him.”

Shinji nodded.  “Stay with him, Grimmjow.  I’ve seen what happens to those of us this happens to, and it is never easy for any of us.  Neither for him nor those of us who will try to help him get through it.”

Grimmjow nodded and left, headed to his SUV.  He got in and sat for a very long time staring straight ahead.  He wouldn’t lose someone else he loved to pain. He couldn’t that again.  He wouldn’t do that again.  He swallowed thickly.  He didn’t know exactly what he’d done wrong with Yoshino.  He thought he’d been there for her, but maybe he hadn’t.  It wasn’t exactly easy to care for someone when he had three broken ribs, a broken femur, and a dislocated shoulder himself.  This time he wasn’t in that situation and he wasn’t going to let Ichigo suffer like Yoshino had. 

He turned on the car on with renewed determination and went back to the apartment.  He trudged up the stairs instead of taking the elevator and entered to find the lights all out already.  He made his way to the linen closet and pulled out a blanket and pillow.  He sat down on the loveseat nearest to Ichigo’s head and curled up into the corner of it.  He would be here, every second, if need be.  No matter what, he was going to be here.

Ichigo mumbled in his sleep, and Grimmjow listened, really listened, because if nothing else, he would know what pained him.  He would try everything to fix it.  He had to do that.  For Ichigo, but also for Yoshino.  Along the way, he would watch Aizen’s whole world fall apart.  It wasn’t revenge, not at all.  Yoshino would have never forgiven him for that.  It was justice he wanted.  He vaguely wondered if Ulquiorra and Nnoitra would tell Aizen what had happened.  Would it matter?  He doubted it.  He would see them all behind bars, though, before this was done.  Bars of one type or another.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

At Las Noches, Tatsuki came to the door like always, expecting to be let in like always, and instead found herself staring at a bouncer who was shaking his head and telling her she was of the list.  She screamed at him for fifteen minutes before she left out of fear of the cops being called.  She stood on the street and screamed curses at Aizen and everyone she knew inside the building for another half an hour before she finally wandered down to the nearest dealer she knew.  To her surprise, she found out she was blacklisted there too, unable to buy from anyone associated with Aizen’s operation.  She screamed in frustration and headed back to the apartment only to find that it had an orange police tape over the door.  She shook her head and ripped it down, stepping over the things that had been gone through and dropping into her bed.  She’d show them, she’d show them all.

Tomorrow, she knew where the fucking brat would be.  He’d go to Rukongai to be with his fucking boyfriend.  She’d go there and drag him out by his fucking loud ass orange hair and beat him to death right in front of him.  No one dumped her.  No one got away with embarrassing her like this.  She’d kill them all before she was done. 


	8. The Long Road

_ _

_Ichigo was where he didn't want to be.  He saw her face, grinning at him, those words he’d heard so often spilling over his ears like the poison she knew they were…_

_“Worthless brat, you can’t do anything right.  How did you survive before I came along?  You’re useless in so many ways…you can’t even fuck right, you know that?  I have dildos better than you.  Useless, worthless…”_

_Then there were faces the two men, again and again, floating up into his face and again she was laughing and he was screaming for his life, and sobbing into someone’s chest…_

“Ichigo, wake up!”

Ichigo gasped and looked up into kind eyes fringed by green hair.  She was sitting beside him on the couch.  He stared for a moment, then sat up with a small bit of pain and grabbed her around the waist and buried his face into her ample chest.  It felt warm, and safe, something he hadn’t felt since he was a child, and he sobbed into her.  She didn’t pull away, only held him as tightly as she dared because of his ribs.  Ichigo was quickly realizing that he didn’t see women as sexual at all, even before this, not really.  Every time he lay with Tatsuki, his mind was elsewhere, and then he’d be berated for not paying attention because she wanted a _man_ in bed.  Was he less of one because he didn’t want to sleep with her?  He tried desperately to use it, to enjoy her submission to him, as he controlled her in the bed, but it just wasn’t right.  Not at all.  Even though she submitted, she never really did.  She was in control, not him.

“I’m…sorry…” he finally gasped, his own arms gripping her hard enough to make his ribs ache and his face burn.

Nel ran hands through his hair.  “It’s okay, Itsygo, it’s okay.  You can cry into my boobs anytime you want to,” she said gently, trying not to hurt him.

“Hey, what’s goin’ on here…” a familiar voice said, and Ichigo looked up from the soft protection of Nel’s chest to see Grimmjow smirking at them.

“Don’t get jealous, Grimmy, you know which way we both swing,” she said lightly, pushing Ichigo away so he didn’t hurt his ribs anymore.  He groaned as he sat upright, his feet dropping to the floor. 

Grimmjow dropped beside him, and he felt himself tipping into his body to relieve the pressure from his backside which still hurt when he sat upright like that.  “Ow,” he muttered.

“Sore?” Grimmjow asked, putting a hand against his shoulder.  “Baby, I’ve got some stuff that Kisuke gave me, if you’ll let me put it on you…” he said softly.

Ichigo looked up with wide eyes.  “What kind of stuff?”

Grimmjow tried not to grin at the Ichigo’s look.  “Down there, you know, to heal it up quicker, make it stop being so sore.”

Grimmjow felt the subtle tremble.  “I…don’t know…” Ichigo said, nervously.  He wasn’t so sure about that.  “Maybe I could do it myself?”

Grimmjow shook his head.  “Kisuke said that it would be better if someone else did because of the injury to your ribs.  Trying to bend like that is going to hurt like a bitch, babe.”

“Okay, because it really hurts when I try to sit upright for long,” he said finally, sighing deeply.  His face was already turning red.

Seriously, he was getting embarrassed at the idea of Grimmjow seeing him.  Grimmjow had already _had_ his fingers up inside him, so what did it matter if he did that again?  He swallowed nervously as Nel excused herself back to the kitchen.  He guessed it was different because it had been in the heat of the moment before, and now he was going to _see_ and Ichigo thought that might be more embarrassing than anything else.

“Um, how…I mean, Dr. Urahara had that table with the foot things…I don’t…” Ichigo said, shifting again.  He was beginning to not care how embarrassed.  He was in a bit of pain that he really didn’t like.  “And it really hurt when he did it…”

Grimmjow smiled.  “Babe, just settle down.  The tears were fresh, then, and he was also using instruments to get an actual look inside, you know…”

Ichigo’s eyes went wide.  “Look?  How do you look…I mean, there’s a way to see inside that part of the body?”

Grimmjow contained his laughter.  “Babe, you are so damn cute sometimes,” he said, shaking his head.  “Look, when you’re better, I’ll have Kisuke show you the things he had to use, but that is really not the best idea right now.  But yes, that’s why it was uncomfortable and hurt a bit because of what he did.  Now, this stuff should numb you a bit so it shouldn’t hurt at all, and it might help you sit a bit better.  You know, kinda like that stuff old people squirt up their ass for hemorrhoids.”

Ichigo’s face flushed bright red and he put dropped his head into his hands.  Grimmjow did laugh then.  “Baby, come on, it is kinda like that, but you can’t bend the way to put it on with your ribs, so stop being so embarrassed, okay?  You have the right name, you know,” he said finally.

Ichigo peeked through his fingers.  “What does that mean?”

“You blush bright red just like a strawberry,” Grimmjow said with a smirk.

Ichigo groaned out loud, closing his fingers over his eyes again.  “This is so…humiliating…” he muttered.

“Baby…” Grimmjow said, sitting beside him and pulling his hands away and holding them on his lap.  “Stop, huh?  You have no reason to be humiliated.”  He leaned over to whisper in his ear.  “I already told you what else I planned for you, remember?  Putting a little salve up there is nothing.”

Ichigo felt his cheeks hot and nodded.  “You…you still want that?” he stammered.  A part of him had been very worried that after this, Grimmjow wouldn’t accept him.  Grimmjow was supposed to be his first, after all, even if he’d never told him that.

Grimmjow scoffed.  “Baby, only thing that I’m worried about is you, and yes, I still want that, but only when and if you are ready.  You’ve done something incredible, and I will wait forever, and even if you don’t ever want to go beyond snuggling on the couch, that’s okay.  I want you however you come, baby…” he said, standing up and grabbing the medication bag from beside the couch.  “Now, I want you to feel better, so let’s do this, okay babe?” he said smiling.

Ichigo still looked unsure about it.  “Um…how?” he asked.

Grimmjow kneeled down beside the couch after pushing the couch back.  “Lay over on your side, facing the back, then pull up your knees a bit, far as you can without hurting yourself, okay?” Grimmjow said as Ichigo followed his instructions.  Grimmjow put his hand on his hip.  “Now, just relax, okay babe?  It won’t take long, and you’ll be able to sit a little more comfortably.”

Ichigo didn’t speak, mostly because he felt Grimmjow pulling away his clothes and he was suddenly hit by horrible flash of that similar feeling.  He squeezed his eyes shut and grit his teeth together pushing it away. 

“Are you okay, babe?” Grimmjow said, concerned because he had stiffened his whole body.

“Fine,” he said softly, his voice cracking a bit.

Grimmjow nodded to himself and decided to get this over quickly.  Kisuke had said he might need it to be comfortable.  It was a lot like the stuff for hemorrhoids, just with a bit of antibiotic added to the mixture, and it probably had more analgesic properties than the stuff bought in the stores.  Grimmjow began rubbing his lower back slowly, feeling him try to relax.  It took a few moments but it seemed Ichigo finally managed some semblance of relaxing.  Grimmjow then grabbed the glove and the jar.

“Okay, baby, just try to stay relaxed while I do this, I won’t take much time,” he said, scooping the stuff out of the jar and first smoothing it against the outside.  He felt Ichigo tense and relax.  He hated seeing him like this.  “Okay, just a little push, babe,” he said, and quickly applied the rest of it.  He replaced his clothes and sat back, stripping off the glove and dropping it into the small bin by the sofa.

“You okay, there?” Grimmjow asked when he didn’t move.

“Okay,” he said softly, but Grimmjow heard the tension in the voice.

“Hey, come on, sit up here, baby” he said, and helped him sit beside him, pulling him slightly to the side.  “That has to feel a little better,” he said looking down at the brown eyes that were clouded, however it seemed not with pain as much as before.

Ichigo nodded, burying his head into the hollow of his shoulder suddenly, and Grimmjow felt wetness.  He wrapped his arm around Ichigo’s shoulders and let him release it into him as he rubbed his back in gentle circles again. Nel said she was worried that he seemed so calm about everything.  She said that it was always difficult to deal with sexual abuse victims, especially male ones, because there were so many different reactions and coping mechanisms.  She was worried because he seemed to have chosen to simply ignore it rather than deal with it.  Many times, this could lead to worse problems down the road.  As she told Grimmjow, if it seems too easy, it probably is.  Yoshino had been “fine” afterward, too.  She had been “fine” up until the day Grimmjow found her in the bathtub.

Grimmjow knew that Ichigo wasn’t fine.

“I don’t understand,” he said finally, voice muffled by Grimmjow’s shirt.   “I gave her everything, even when I never felt anything real for her, so how could she do something so terrible…  I wanted acceptance, and her to love me, and that was all I ever really wanted.”

“Why did you stay if you didn’t feel anything real for her, baby?” Grimmjow asked, his voice much softer than Ichigo had thought it could ever be.

Ichigo nearly sobbed again.  “No one would have me but her, right?  That’s what she told me, I was a crybaby, disgrace, and then when I hurt myself, I couldn’t defend her or anyone else, right?”

“Not right, babe, not right at all.  She was wrong.  You lost your mom, you were supposed to cry,” he said softly.  “And you’re strong, and beautiful, and there is no reason others wouldn’t want to be with you and show you real love.”

They stayed that way for a while until the doorbell rang.  Nel answered it behind them and Ichigo was honestly just trying to ignore the world at the moment.  He certainly wasn’t expecting to hear the voice that spoke next to him.

“Son?”

Ichigo looked up, eyes wide to see his father standing next to the sofa.  He swallowed and tried to push away from Grimmjow, sure his dad would say something about him snuggled into the warmth of another man, but Grimmjow’s hand remained tightly around his shoulders, not allowing him to go anywhere.  Ichigo’s ribs hurt too much to force the issue and he just relaxed against him, taking comfort from him that he desperately needed.

“Pop…I…how did you know where I was?” he said, eyes blinking.

“Kisuke Urahara called me.  We know each other pretty well,” he said, sitting in the chair next to them.  “He showed me the files, Ichigo.”

Ichigo dropped his head, feeling his face flush.  He remembered the last time his father had talked to him, almost a year ago after he’d broken his collar bone and had been in the hospital.  It had led to screaming at his father to leave him alone and telling him he never wanted to see him again.  He’d tried very hard since then to forget the look on his father’s face as he left the room.  They hadn’t spoken since that day.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, then felt the couch beside him dip and realized his dad had come to sit beside him.

“Son, why didn’t you tell me what was going on?” he said softly.  “I’ve tried so hard to get you to talk to me, and you kept pushing me away.  Was that her?  I knew it wasn’t you, son.  I knew it and I should have done more.”

Ichigo couldn’t remove himself from Grimmjow; his heart was beating way too fast.  “I’m sorry,” he whispered again.  “I’ve made you worry, and I don’t…”

“Baby, please, your dad doesn’t want to hear you apologize,” Grimmjow said, rubbing his back gently.  “Your dad knows everything that happened, Kisuke and I told him already.”

Ichigo looked up at his father with wide eyes.  “Everything?”

“Yes, everything, son.  I know that it was Grimmjow’s affection that made you realize that you could be without her.  It’s okay.  I would rather see you with anyone besides that awful girl, male or female.  It doesn’t bother me that you prefer men, there’s nothing wrong with that at all, son.  I want you to be safe and happy, and so does he,” his dad said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Ichigo’s eyes brimmed with tears, and now Grimmjow did let him go as he dove into his father’s arms.  Isshin looked over the bowed orange head and smiled at Grimmjow who nodded in return.  Grimmjow had called him the day before from Ichigo’s phone, surprising the doctor to even see his son’s number across it.  The call had lasted three hours.  By the end, Isshin had heard about how Grimmjow found him, and then how he’d been attacked.  He’d then called Kisuke who he met down at the urgent clinic, and went over the medical records with him.  He wasn’t very surprised at the fact he’d been abused but to think she’d taken the step to find two men to actually rape him as punishment for trying to live his life for himself sickened him.

The talk with Urahara had taken a different road, though, when they got into where he’d been working, and it was revealed it was Shinji’s place, leader of the Vizard, a name he hadn’t heard in a very long time.  In fact, he doubted that Shinji heard it very often anymore, as it had been years since that name was used.  Back then, Shinji had been a lonely kid on the street, an orphan trying to keep himself alive.  His friends became his family, and the protected each other from the likes of Aizen who tried to pull them into his drug ring.

This alone made Isshin much more confident.  He knew them very well, in fact, had patched them up on multiple occasions, and when he found out that Tatsuki was working with Aizen’s people, he knew that Ichigo couldn’t be in more capable hands.  Shinji’s people were a family, not a gang.  They would give anything to protect one of their own. 

Now he sat holding a sobbing child.  He may have been nearly twenty, but right now he was a child to his father.  He saw the way the blue haired man next to him looked at him, and Isshin knew that there was a lot of feeling behind that look.  Isshin saw the softening when he looked at him, something he’d never seen with Tatsuki.  Ichigo was letting him hold onto him, so that was something.  He hoped it wasn’t just savior related, but he doubted his son would fall into that category.

So they sat, for it seemed like hours, the father, the son, and the blue haired savior, and let him cry and sob all the pain that had filled his soul since he was a child.  All those things that had happened that he knew were wrong, that he realized he couldn’t change; it all came flooding into him and crashing down like a tidal wave.

When he was done, he looked up to see that Nel was sitting in the chair now, and Shinji was sitting on the arm beside her, watching him.  His eyes were painful from the tears and he knew he looked awful between his now red eyes and the purple bruising all over his face.  He stared at Nel and Shinji.

Shinji smiled suddenly and widely.  “I sent Aizen a message,” he said.  “Nnoitra left with a broken jaw, and I may have given Ulquiorra a concussion.  I feel it was fitting.”

Ichigo’s eyes widened.  “Won’t you get in trouble?” he muttered thickly, his voice not entirely up to talking just yet.

“Fuck no, let’s just say I’ve done worse to Aizen’s people who tried to get in and sell at the pub,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“But…if she’s…what could she be doing…I just don’t know…she did drugs, I know, but to be tangled up with a guy…” Ichigo said, his eyes still leaking tears no matter how he tried to stem the flood.

Shinji shook his head.  “I dunno what she’s got going on with Aizen, but I do know that those two idiots were told by Aizen to keep you alive.  That’s the only reason I didn’t kill them was because they probably did just that.  I doubt they’ll be at the club again.  Ichigo, I need you to consider staying there with us.  Grimmjow is welcome, too, of course.”

“Upstairs?” he asked, sitting up and leaning more into Grimmjow now than his father.

Shinji shifted.  “Well, yes and no.  There’s a basement level, and it is actually more secure than the upstairs is.  I built a sort of apartment down there, in case I had someone that needed to be protected.”

Ichigo shook his head.  “I don’t understand.”

“See, I suppose you should know the whole thing, kid.  See, yeah, I have the kids that stay upstairs in the hostile.  They’re LGBTQ kids, mostly, or really, anyone that needs help and has nowhere to go.  I started taking care of kids when I was one.  I lived on the street.  I did live with my mom, but believe it or not, the street was safer.  So I took off, bitch never noticed.  She ran that place I run now as the sleaziest strip joint around, and prostituted herself out.  I don’t know who my father was, and probably never will.  She overdosed, and I got the club.  But that’s not the point,” Shinji said, sighing.

“When I was on the street, I found out that a lot of the kids were like me.  They were gay, lesbian, trans kids, you know.  Most of them had parents; they’d just been kicked out.  So we started to protect each other.  There were the eight of us.  Most the people that live above the coffee house and the pub full time are those seven others.  We called ourselves the Vizard.  Mostly because we usually wore hoods and covered our faces so no one who might know us would take us back to our shitty homes.  Well, we took care of each other, and we ran afoul of Aizen’s people a lot.  They were always trying to recruit us, or try to sell to us.  We lost a few along the way,” Shinji said, looking thoughtful.  “But still, there we were.”

Shinji smirked and glanced at Isshin.  “Your dad, and Kisuke Urahara, for that matter, are the only two docs around that would work for free and not report to the cops.  They both knew who we were, and they helped us out with food and supplies when they could.  We ended up coming across Byakuya Kuchiki, and once he heard out Isshin and Kisuke, he agreed we were better off on our own.  However, we also agreed to help him take care of Aizen whenever we could.”

“That’s also how I got to know them,” Nel said.  “I ended up on some of their cases.  Actually ended up putting more than a few of their families in jail for various reasons, and got the others foster families that were good for them until they turned eighteen.  When they were aged out of the system, they went to help Shinji.  Eventually, I helped Shinji get authorization as a youth shelter so that his kids could decide to stay with him or have us find foster families for them.”

Ichigo nodded.  “Wow, all of that?” he said.

Shinji nodded.  “Yeah, so if you want, you can use the basement apartment.  It has everything you need, and you can stay there as long as you want.”

Ichigo glanced at his dad.  Isshin smiled.  “I think it would be safer until we find out what her connection with Aizen is.”

Ichigo nodded.  “And Grimm can stay with me?” he said, looking up at him.  “Cuz I’d like that…”

Shinji nodded.  “Of course he can.”

“If…if you want to?” he said, looking up to Grimmjow.

Grimmjow smiled, leaning over and kissing his scrunched forehead.  “Of course I do, baby.  Of course I do.”

Ichigo smiled and then looked over at Shinji.  “Wait, what does Byakuya have to do with it?” he asked. 

Nel and Grimmjow exchanged a look.  Nel gave him a sideways glance.  “Oh, yeah, we didn’t get to tell you that part.  See, Byakuya is the head lieutenant in the police.  His boyfriend, Renji, is the head of the drug division, and his sister, Rukia, she’s the head of the special victim crimes division.”

Ichigo nodded slowly.  “Wow, so…so you called them over that first night…”

“Because we knew you were being hurt, Ichigo, and I wanted them to see it first hand,” Nel said softly.  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but everything was going so well, and then this…”  She sighed.  “I didn’t mean to keep it from you.”

“No, it…it’s okay, Nel, I know that,” he said with a smile.  “So…do we go there today?” he said, looking to Shinji.

Shinji nodded.  “We can, Byakuya cleared your apartment, and I sent Kensei and Hiyori over there today to get your things.  They said when they got back that the place was a wreck, so I’m not sure what happened.  They got everything they thought might be yours.”

Ichigo nodded.  “Okay, I’m ready, will you go with us, pop?” he asked, looking over at him.

“I will son,” he said, squeezing Ichigo’s hand.  “But first, I brought something for you,” he said, reaching down into a bag Ichigo hadn’t noticed at his feet.  He pulled a stuffed lion from it.

Ichigo gasped and took it.  “Kon!” he exclaimed.

“I thought he’d make you feel better,” Isshin said with a smile.

Ichigo hugged the toy.  He looked at Grimmjow who was watching him with an amused expression.  “It was the last thing my mom gave me before she died.”

Grimmjow nodded.  “Let’s get you moved into a new place, baby.  I’ll get my things after we’ve got you settled, okay?” he said and Ichigo agreed.

The rest of the day, they spent getting the small apartment under the Dangai and Rukongai set up for them.  While Grimmjow went after his clothes, Isshin stayed and kept Ichigo company.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Loly sighed as she sat down at the bar.  It was her break, and Nel was downstairs with Ichigo, helping him get settled.  She looked out to see Menoly serving drinks to her new girlfriend, a cute little thing named Chizuru.  They’d met a few nights before and hit it off like crazy.  Chizuru had been depressed and despondent, and Menoly had quickly cheered her up.  Apparently, her girlfriend had broken it off with her recently, and then she had been worried over things she had no control over. 

Menoly came over and patted Loly on the back.  “Hey, you should sit with Chi, she’s still feeling down about something she doesn’t want to talk about, but you two should definitely get to know each other.  I like her a bunch, and next night off, we should totally go on a double date.”

Loly smiled.  “Sounds good, she doesn’t mind?” she asked, glancing at where the girl was sitting, watching the people around her.

“Nah, I asked, she’d love to meet you,” Menoly said with a smile.

“Alright,” Loly said, grabbing her soda and going to the table where the girl sat.  Chizuru looked up and smiled.  “Hey, I’m Loly, Menoly’s best friend.  Thought I’d come sit with you if that’s cool.”

Chizuru smiled and nodded.  “Oh yes, sure, I’d love to meet her friends. She talks about you all the time.”

“We grew up next door to each other.  Menoly used to come over when her dad was having a bad day.  I swear, we grew up more like sisters than friends,” Loly said, sitting back with a smile.

They spent a few more minutes getting to know each other before Chizuru looked up with a shocked expressions.  “Oh my god.” 

Loly frowned and looked behind her where Chizuru was staring.  There was a girl with short, messy dark hair headed through the crowd toward the.  “Ex-girlfriend?” Loly asked.

Chizuru shook her head.  “No, I have no idea what _she’s_ doing here, but it can’t be good…”

“Where is he?” the girl said, slamming both hands onto the table.  Loly jumped and looked up at her.  The girl looked like hell.

Chizuru shook her head.  “I haven’t seen him, Tats, promise; he hasn’t been in lately…”

Loly looked up sharply.  No way.  “Tats.  As in Tatsuki?”

Tatsuki turned and glared at the other dark haired girl.  “That’s my fucking name, what the fuck it is to you, bitch?”

“You need to leave is what.  You aren’t allowed in here,” Loly said, standing slowly with her fists flexing at her side.  They all knew the story.  They all knew what she’d done.  Nel and Shinji had made sure of that.

Tatsuki stood up slowly, turning her head to the side.  “What?”

Menoly had come up.  “This is her?” she said, looking at Loly.  Loly nodded slowly.

“Get out.  Now,” Menoly said, putting her hands on her hips.  “You are not welcome here at all.”

“The fuck are you two on about?  What the fuck do you know about me?” Tatsuki said standing up and glaring at the pair of them.  Around them, everyone seemed to have stopped what they were doing to look at what was happening.  “You can’t tell me to leave.”

“Just leave,” Menoly repeated.  “You are going to make a scene, and I don’t want that to happen, for you or us.”

Tatsuki tipped her head to the side.  “Fuck you, all of you, and fuck you, Chizuru.  If you hadn’t fucking sent me that picture of my bitch-ass boyfriend fucking around with some faggot in here, I would have never know that the little fucker was a goddamned fag himself!”

Loly snapped.  “Don’t you dare talk about Ichigo like that!”

“You know him?” she said, turning and grabbing Loly by the collar, lifting her off the floor.

“Of course I know him, you…you…I don’t have a word for what you are!” she stammered. 

Menoly took a step closer.  “Put her down, that shit doesn’t work in here.  You may have gotten away with beating the crap out of him before, but now, you lay a hand on anyone here, and you will be sorry.”

Chizuru looked at her.  “You hit him?” she said, standing slowly.  “Why would you hit Ichi?  He was always so nice and sweet to you!  He did everything you asked of him and more!”

Tatsuki dropped Loly’s shirt and turned to her.  “Of course he fucking did, he was a useless, weak little pussy.  He couldn’t think for his own fucking self without me to tell him what the hell to do.”

“Tatsuki, what is wrong with you?  You were never like this before…we’ve known each other for years, and…” Chizuru said, eyes wide.  “How could you hurt Ichi?”

“Oh, you’re just as fucking weak as the rest of them.  He deserved every fucking thing I did to him,” she growled at the other girl.

Loly shook her head.  “You bitch!  He deserved for you to have two guys rape him while you watched?”

Chizuru choked loudly and put both hands on her mouth.  Tatsuki grinned.  “He wanted to be a fucking faggot, I just helped him out a little.  He was too much of a pussy to do it himself.”

“Leave,” came a third voice.  Rose had come from behind the bar with Shuuhei, both of whom were on bar duty.  “If we tell you again, we call the cops.”

“Call the fucking cops!” she screamed at them.  “You’re all a bunch of stupid cunts and faggots in this fucking place!”

Of course, Rose had already called before he said anything.  Ikkaku was probably on his way by then.  Tatsuki screamed at the top of her lungs and swiped everything off the table that Chizuru and Loly had been sitting at, sending everything crashing to the floor.  Loly stepped forward and she turned and punched her in the stomach before punching up and clipping her in the chin, sending her flying backward into a shocked Rose who thankfully caught her.

“That’s enough of that,” Menoly said, stepping forward and moving too fast for anyone to really realize what she did.  A second later she had Tatsuki in what looked like a very uncomfortable judo hold on the floor just as the lights began flashing outside the doorway.  A minute later, Ikkaku and his partner, the mountainous Zaraki, came in.  Tatsuki was screaming incoherently at the top of her lungs.

“What the hell?” Ikkaku said.

“Handcuffs, and watch out, she’ll try to bite you I bet,” Menoly said, shifting to give Ikkaku access to Tatsuki’s hands where she had them pinned.

Ikkaku managed to get her to her feet, with Zaraki’s help and they finally maneuvered her out the door into the back of their car.  Once there, Zaraki stayed standing outside the car while Ikkaku went back to take the statements.

“What the hell happened?” he said, rubbing a hand over his bald head.  “And who the hell is she?  Rose just said there was a disturbance and to come immediately.”

Loly sighed.  “That would be Arisawa Tatsuki.  Ichigo’s ex-girlfriend.”

Chizuru was still staring at where she had been.  Menoly put an arm around her.  “Chi, honey, you okay?”

“I did this…he…I caused this…” she whispered. 

Ikkaku looked at her.  “What do you mean?  Who are you?”

“Chizuru Honsho.  I went to school with Tats and Ichigo.  I…I asked her a few nights ago if they broke up and sent a picture of him with the guy he’s been seeing here.  I thought they broke up…I mean…I knew Ichigo wasn’t straight, even back then, but he tried to be for Tats.  If I hadn’t said anything…she had someone rape him because of me…”

Menoly shook her head and squeezed her.  “Honey, there is no part of this that is your fault.  She has something seriously wrong with her.  And not just drugs.  My guess?  She’s probably supposed to be on meds for something.  She acts a lot like my dad did.”

Ikkaku looked up from the notebook.  “Like your dad did? What was wrong with him?  I can have the docs come down and check her out.”

“He was bipolar.  And he would go off his meds, and fly into rages.  Afterward, though, he always felt bad.  I’m not sure that she ever has,” she said softly.

Chizuru nodded.  “But…” she started, tears still falling.  “Why?  Ichi…Ichi was always so good to her, and then she would say such things about how bad he was at things…and I always thought she was just overly critical, but he just did everything she wanted…and…”

Ikkaku nodded.  “I’m going to get her back and order a psych consult down to the station.  I’ll come by later for full statements, tell Yumi to call me when he comes on later, okay?” he said.

“You got it, sweetie,” Rose said, nodding to him.

Menoly steered Chizuru to a back table slowly.  Loly followed behind and sat down with them.  Chizuru looked at the two girls.  “I can’t believe this.  How…how do you know Ichigo?”

“My girlfriend, Nel, she brought him down here.  Grimmjow is the blue-haired guy, and that’s her brother.  She was trying to get him to stay here instead of going home to her.  She works child services and had Ichigo as a case when he was still in school, but they couldn’t figure out who his abuser was back then,” Loly said softly as Menoly rubbed Chizuru’s back slowly.

“So that long…she’s been doing this that long…” Chizuru said.  “How did we not see it?”

“If you want to help, first step is don’t blame yourself,” Menoly said.  “It will do more harm than good.  However, you might be able to help quite a bit.  She pushed his other friends away, I take it?”

Chizuru nodded.  “Yeah, he got to where his friends were never with him.”

“If you know them, it might help to reconnect him with those people he gave up because she forced him to,” Loly continued with a soft smile.

Chizuru nodded.  “I can do that.  I can do that for him.”


	9. Pleading and Hoping

Ichigo had no idea that Tatsuki had been upstairs that night.  He was far too busy turning the dark, plain basement apartment into something he liked.  First, he made Grimmjow go get lamps and lights.  It was far too dim for his taste.  Then he realized there was only one bed.  He wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about that.  He had asked Grimmjow to stay, though, and he wanted him to stay.  Surely Grimmjow wasn’t going to be aggressive even if they shared a bed…

Nel noticed the sudden trepidation that overcame Ichigo when he walked into the bedroom.  She smiled and grabbed the bedding she’d brought to try and distract him.  They made up the bed, a set of beige sheets and a down comforter with a nice blue and green striped duvet that she’d found in her closet.  She didn’t even realize she had it.

“You know, sweetie, Grimmy can sleep on the couch out there if you want him to,” she said, looking across the bed at Ichigo. 

Ichigo nodded.  “I know.  I just…I don’t know that I want him to sleep on the couch.  I don’t know what I want.”

Nel patted him on the back.  “Sweetie, you can talk to me, you know?” she said.

Ichigo nodded.  “I’m fine,” he said, smiling at her.  “Really, I’m okay.  Don’t worry about me, I’m used to stuff like this.  I mean, not as extreme, but you know, I’ve had worse.”

Nel nodded slowly.  “Sweetie, I know you think you’re fine but you’re going to have to deal with…”

Ichigo turned to her, both hands up.  “Look, I’m fine.  Okay?  Just…leave it.  I’m fine.”  He gave her a smile then. “I…I want to put away the dishes now.  Can you finish this?” he asked.

“Sure,” Nel said.  “I can.”

Ichigo nodded and left her in there.  He needed to breathe.  He needed space.  He needed them to stop treating him like there was something wrong with him.  He was fine. Perfectly fine.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Grimmjow saw that Ichigo was doing everything to keep himself busy the moment he got back with his clothes from his and Nel’s place.  Nel was sitting in the sparse living room on the old sofa watching Ichigo through the opening between the living room and the kitchen.  He sat his clothes down on the bed and came out to sit by her.

“How’s he doing?” he asked softly.

She shook he head.  “I’m worried.  He’s pushing it all away.  He’s hasn’t even dealt with any of it.”

Grimmjow nodded.  “He got close.  Earlier.  He asked if I still wanted him.  So I know that it will come.”

Nel nodded.  “Grimmy, I can’t let him…I know this is killing you, Grimmy.  Are you sure you can handle this?” she said, turning to him with a sad smile.

Grimmjow smiled back.  “I have to, Sissy.  There’s no other option.  I won’t lose him like I lost her.”

Nel sighed, nodding slowly.  “I just…”

Her phone buzzed at that moment.  She started, looking down.  “From Loly,” she said, pulling up the text message. “Oh, shit.”

Grimmjow frowned and looked at the screen.  “Don’t tell him,” Grimmjow said, looking up at Nel.  “He can’t handle it right now, I know that no matter how much he says he’s fine.”

Nel nodded.  “I’m going to check on Loly,” she said softly.  “Ichi!” she yelled as she stood. “I’m going for a bit, Grimmy’s here, though!”

“Oh, you’re back!” he said, smiling as he came out of the kitchen.  “See you, Nel,” he said with a smile.

“Hey baby,” Grimmjow said, smiling at him and standing.  “How are you feeling?”

He frowned briefly before smiling.  “Fine, I’m moving a lot better but I’m already tired…”

“Want to hit the sack, then?  I mean, do you want me to sleep here or…” Grimmjow asked, gesturing toward the couch.

“No, no, come on,” Ichigo said, smiling.  “I want to try something.”

Grimmjow frowned but allowed himself to be led into the bedroom.  Ichigo shut the door and then turned to him.  “I…I want to…do something.”

Grimmjow sat down slowly.  “Baby, you think that’s a good idea?  I mean…”

“I’m not going to have a nervous breakdown!” Ichigo shot back, brows knitting.  “I’m perfectly capable of deciding if I want to do anything or not!”

“Baby, I just meant you aren’t healed yet,” Grimmjow said, sensing very much the rise in Ichigo’s aggression level since he’d started feeling better physically. 

Ichigo blinked.  “Oh,” he said, brows relaxing and he put his hands in front of him. “I…I meant I wanted to…see you…and touch and…maybe…”

Grimmjow nodded slowly at him and smiled.  “Of course, babe, whatever you want,” he said softly, leaning back onto the headboard of the bed.  “You tell me what you’re ready for.  I believe we left off with the manual stimulation part, yeah?” he said, deciding that perhaps acting like things were fine was the best for now.

Ichigo’s eyes were wide but he nodded.  “Can you…can you take off…”

Grimmjow saw the blush already rising to his cheeks.  “You want me to undress?”

Ichigo nodded, still standing at the foot of the bed with his hands clenched together across his chest.  Grimmjow wasn’t sure exactly where this was heading, because Yoshino had never wanted something like this.  They’d slept in the same bed afterward, but she wouldn’t dress or undress in front of him, and she didn’t want to be touched.  This was completely different, and heading in directions he not expected.  He nodded and stood up again; stripping off the t-shirt and jeans he was wearing before he slid off the boxers he was wearing.  He sat back down on the bed in the buff now, crossing his legs at the ankles and watching Ichigo carefully.

Ichigo hadn’t moved the entire time, just stood there watching as Grimmjow undressed.  His mouth had gone dry because he was amazed at the man’s body.  He was all hard muscles and dips and planes.  Ichigo had never seen another man naked before and he couldn’t take his eyes off of him.  He finally moved, crawling onto the end of the bed and over to where Grimmjow had sat down.  Ichigo pushed his ankles off each other and continued crawling up between his legs until he was kneeling between Grimmjow’s thighs.  He was staring at his body with such an intense look Grimmjow snorted.

“You act like you’ve never seen a man naked before, babe,” he said in a joking tone.

“I haven’t,” Ichigo said, looking up into Grimmjow’s cerulean eyes.  “I mean, other than my body, of course,” he said softly.

Grimmjow smiled and ran a hand over Ichigo’s head slowly.  “Well, then, explore as you wish, babe.”

Ichigo looked down and then up.  “I can…I can touch things…other than…you know…”

“Baby, I’m all yours, touch anything you want,” he said.

“Even…even…you know…” he stammered, staring at Grimmjow’s face.

Grimmjow smiled.  “Baby, this isn’t a one way street.  That’s the fun part.  Neither one of us is a girl, remember?  We can do all sorts of things.”

Ichigo did blush red then as if he just realized what that meant.  “Oh…Oh!” he said, looking at him nearly horrified.  “I don’t know if I could…you know…do that…I…I…”

Grimmjow took Ichigo’s hands that were shaking now.  “Babe, babe…” he said, getting Ichigo to look up at him.  “We do whatever we both enjoy.  I’m just trying to let you know that there aren’t roles in this.  I’ve been on both sides, and I’ve a preference for the top, but I have no problem with being bottom for you if you want to one of these days, baby.”

“T-top?  Bottom?” Ichigo said, shaking his head.  “I don’t understand that.”

Grimmjow grimaced.  He kept forgetting that Ichigo hadn’t ever done these things with a guy and was really naïve when it came to sex in general.  He squeezed his hands gently.  “Think of the top as the one…ah hell, I can’t think of a non-vulgar way to put this.  The top is the one doing the fucking.  The bottom is the one being fucked.”

Ichigo blushed harder.  “Oh…”

Grimmjow let go of his hand with one of his and put it against his cheek. “Look, there’s a lot for us to learn about each other, okay?  But I just don’t know if you’re ready for this right now.”

Ichigo nodded.  “I need…wait, no I want to touch you.  I want to see…that you want me.”

“That’s not a problem,” he said, pulling Ichigo gently over him to kiss him softly, letting his tongue languidly slide against Ichigo’s for a moment. 

Ichigo pulled back and looked down, eyes wide.  Only a kiss?  Grimmjow was quite obviously interested and wanting Ichigo’s attention.  Grimmjow smirked as if to say see I told you so.  Ichigo kneeled back and then reached out with his hands, gripping Grimmjow’s hardness and sliding his hands up and down him slowly.  Grimmjow groaned a bit.  Ichigo looked so serious though, as he explored his cock slowly, fingers sliding under the front and down the sides and to his testicles.

“You’re blonde,” he whispered softly, petting his hair gently.

Grimmjow smirked.  “Didn’t think this color was natural, did you?”

Ichigo nodded, rubbing slowly over the soft flesh covered with the sparse blonde hair.  He was fascinated.  He’d never seen his own body this close.  He moved, lying flat on his stomach and propping himself up on his elbows, using his hands to cradle each of the heavy, fleshy organs.  They were round, soft, and yet somewhat hard, and very warm to his touch.  He frowned, wondering what that softness would taste like.  Rather than wonder, though he scooted further up, ignoring the lancing pain in his ribcage, as he leaned close enough to stick his tongue out and slide it against the globes he was holding.

He heard Grimmjow’s intake of breath softly above him. He wasn’t sure if it was surprise or pleasure, but it didn’t matter, to be honest.  Ichigo was doing something he’d always wanted to do, and he wasn’t finished.  Slowly his soft licking changed to gentle sucks on the peach-like flesh.  The taste was different, he decided.  He tasted the salt of Grimmjow’s skin, but more than that, there was an overpowering smell, a musky odor that wasn’t entirely unpleasant.  It wasn’t like Tatsuki’s smell that always made him slightly queasy.  No, this was different, and arousing.  He sucked one of the globes into his mouth experimentally and felt Grimmjow’s body stiffen a bit as he let out a growling sound above him.

Ichigo let go of the flesh and then used his hands to lift Grimmjow’s balls upward so he could see below.  They’d left the lights on, so he could see quite well.  He could hear Grimmjow’s breath above him and could feel his pulse through his thigh.  Ichigo took one finger and slid it down and felt Grimmjow grunt as he pressed on that part that had felt very nice when Grimmjow had touched it on him.  He swallowed as he watched Grimmjow’s thighs flex as his finger stroked his perineum back and forth several times.  He wasn’t sure, but curiosity was getting the best of him as he slid his finger down to the entrance to Grimmjow’s body.  He felt the flinch as he touched him but Grimmjow didn’t say anything, only adjusted himself a little and widened his legs a bit more so Ichigo could do as he wished.

Ichigo pressed against him, and watched as his finger slid into Grimmjow slowly.  He was amazed at how tight it felt around his index finger, and it was hot.  It was completely different from Tatsuki’s body.  Of course, he’d never touched her back there; she told him if he ever did, she’d castrate him.  He pushed and pulled a few times, but he wasn’t sure exactly what to do.  So, satisfied with his exploration he pulled his hand back and then moved up again.  He glanced up to see Grimmjow’s face was a little flushed now.  Ichigo smiled as he leaned over and licked at the head slowly.  He’d done this, he’d put Grimmjow in this state.  He could make him cum too, he thought as he wrapped his mouth around his cock as well as he could, trying to take as much into his mouth as he could.

“Oh, baby, careful, don’t try too much, that’s good, just like that,” Grimmjow said, worried that he’d choke himself.  Ichigo nodded over him and sucked and licked at him sloppily.  It didn’t take much for Grimmjow to go over the edge, though, after the teasing and touching he’d been doing to him.  “Babe, going…going…” he panted as he rolled his eyes back.  He expected Ichigo to move, but instead he kept sucking on him until he was dry.

“Oh baby, oh that was lovely…” he muttered.

Ichigo looked up at him, smiling.  “I did okay?”

Grimmjow smiled, sitting up and kissing him long and passionately, remembering what he’d told Ichigo about him tasting like his cum.  He smiled and pulled back.  “Oh yes, baby, brilliant.”

Ichigo blushed, and rubbed absently at his own hard arousal.  Grimmjow took his hand.  “Could I return such a lovely favor?”

Ichigo looked up.  “I don’t know, I mean, the…”

“Baby, I’m just wanting to give you a blow job.  That’s it.  No fingering, nothing like that baby, you aren’t healed enough, I just want to make you feel good.  If you want me to, of course.  If not, that’s fine, though I hate to receive and not give in return,” he said, putting a kiss on the tip of Ichigo’s nose.

Ichigo looked at him and nodded.  “Oh…okay,” he said and moved to sit against the headboard, slipping his pants off over his hips slowly.  Grimmjow let him go at his own pace and saw him go red the moment he was naked from the waist down.

“Baby,” Grimmjow said, leaning up and kissing his lips gently.  “You’re beautiful.”

Ichigo hadn’t taken off his shirt but Grimmjow didn’t say anything, instead, pushing his knees gently apart and swallowing him slowly.  Ichigo’s eyes went wide and he wondered if Grimmjow had a gag reflex or not because he was taking him all the way.  Ichigo’s head fell back against the head board with a thump and he put both hands in Grimmjow’s hair with a low moan.  Grimmjow kept his hands on the outside of Ichigo’s thighs, mostly to resist the urge to finger him while he was sucking him off.  He always preferred adding a little prostate stimulation to fellatio when he did it.  It wasn’t easy to resist that, he found.  It didn’t take long, though, before he felt Ichigo stiffen and let out a long, low whine as he came harder than Grimmjow expected.  He cut his eyes up and swallowed him, sucking him until he was dry and his hands let go of Grimmjow’s hair.

Grimmjow moved and laid down beside him, propping his head up on one elbow.  “Well, that was nice for you?” he asked.

Ichigo nodded and smiled at him.  “I…thank you,” he said softly, and kissed him as he slid down into the bed.  His eyes were heavy, and Grimmjow grabbed the comforter and covered them both up, and Ichigo was asleep before another five minutes past.

Grimmjow, though, stayed awake a while longer.  He cradled Ichigo’s body against him and cried.  No one would see these tears, though; he wouldn’t let anyone see them.  He refused to lose someone else.  He refused to feel that pain and loneliness again.  If it took everything he had, he would see that Aizen and all those that worked for him would be punished.  He would have justice for Yoshino.  He would have justice for Ichigo.  At least Ichigo’s bitch of an ex was in jail.  He wiped his eyes and realized the top of Ichigo’s head was more than a little wet.

“Please, please,” he whispered into his orange head.  “Don’t take him from me.  I love him so much, don’t take him.”

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

“I’m here to see Detective Kuchiki,” the woman at the front desk said softly.

She was a rather petite woman, with dark hair, long and tied back behind her head.  She had bright blue eyes, but they looked rather sad and worn.  She was perhaps in her late forties, and she looked perhaps ten years older than she actually was.  She wore a simple black blouse and a pair of khaki pants.  Overall, she was quite unassuming.

Rukia Kuchiki came to the desk immediately and nodded to the taller woman.  Rukia was quite short, and though this woman was also petite, Rukia was still shorter than she by at least four or five inches.  She reached out a hand and shook hands.  “I’m Detective Kuchiki, you must be Hinata Tatsuki?”

The woman nodded.  “Just Hinata, please,” she said smiling.  “The officer that called said I needed to come down and speak with you immediately and she was in custody without bail.”

Rukia nodded and took her to her desk which very clearly stated she was with the special victims division.  Hinata looked at it thoughtfully.  “Did she put him in the hospital again?” she said, looking up at Rukia.

“So you know about her relationship with Ichigo Kurosaki, then?” Rukia asked, pulling out her pen and pad to jot notes.

“They’ve been together since they were children, first as friends, then dating at fourteen.  It was the earliest I would allow her to date, and she’d been begging for the last three years to let her ask him to be her boyfriend,” she said, almost sadly. 

“And you were aware that she consistently abused him?” Rukia said.

Hinata looked up with a frown.  “I don’t think I would call it abuse, she would be rough when they sparred now and then, and last year she messed up a throw and threw him into a wall.  That was a bad one, the poor dear was in so much pain.”

Rukia looked up.  “Miss…er Hinata, I don’t think you understand what I mean.  He wasn’t accidentally hurt.  She was abusive, extensively so from his medical records.”

Hinata frowned.  “No, that’s not right, she’s always had anger problems, but never…”  Hinata glanced at the desk.  “Why are you talking to me?”

Rukia arched a brow.  “What do you mean?”

“Special victims, you deal with sexual assault crimes, not domestic abuse,” she said slowly.

Rukia nodded.  “This is a rape investigation, so it is in my purview, and your daughter is in custody for that investigation. She was picked up for causing a disturbance at a local microbrewery and assaulting a waitress.  Once here she was held on suspicion of drug use and possession as well as the assault charges.”

“I don’t understand.  Who’s rape investigation?” she asked, becoming more confused by the whole thing.

“Ichigo Kurosaki,” she said, jotting down a few notes.  “Your daughter is accused of accessory to first degree rape along with assault and battery charges.”

Hinata blinked.  “Accessory?  What? I don’t understand…what did she do?”

“She arranged to have two men rape her then boyfriend while she watched the event and instructed them, and this is according to her statement when she was taken into custody,” Rukia said with a deadpan expression.  “You may speak with her if you wish.”

Hinata nodded, standing as Rukia led her to the interview room where Tatsuki was handcuffed to the table.  She looked up, her eyes red rimmed and circled in dark marks.  “Hey, mom.”

“Arisawa…what…what have you done?  Did you do what they say?” she asked, sitting down.

“If you mean I got my faggot of a boyfriend fucked, yeah, what of it?  Little fucking bastard was stepping out on me with a goddamned man.  No wonder he was never good in bed, he was a worthless fucking fag,” she said, looking away from her.

Hinata glanced over at Rukia who was standing by the door.  “Arisawa Tatsuki!  You don’t speak to me like that!”

“I’ll speak you however I want, bitch,” she said, snorting.  “Like you know a fucking thing about me.”

“You haven’t been taking your meds,” Hinata said softly.  “Why do you do this?”

“I don’t need fucking meds, I’m fucking fine without them!” she screamed across the table.

Hinata sighed, looking down.  “How could you do this to Ichigo?  They say you’ve been hurting him, that they weren’t accidents when he was in the hospital.”

“What, you mean when I put the little bitch in his place?” she said, glaring at Rukia.  “What’s wrong with teaching a man his place?  He is so much beneath me; he can’t even fight like a man.  No wonder, he’s got a pussy instead of a proper cock.  If he was a better fucking lay I wouldn’t have to find real men to fuck me.”

Hinata shook her head slowly.  “I don’t know you when you’re like this,” she said.  “How long?”

“Since I took the happy pills?  Fuck, woman, I haven’t taken that shit since I moved out.  I don’t need that crap.  I need a fucking man to listen to me and stop acting like he’s a pussy bitch and grow some fucking balls.  Now, Aizen, there’s a fucking man,” she said with a grin.  “Never had a man that could fuck me into screaming before.  Guess it comes with age. That’s what I get for trying to have a man my own age.”

Hinata nodded and stood up.  “I’m sorry, I can’t…good-bye, Arisawa.  When you’re on your meds again, I’ll come see you.”

“That’s right bitch, what you always do, walk the fuck away,” Tatsuki said and looked to the mirror on the other side of the room.

Rukia shut the door behind her and patted her back.  “I’m sorry,” Rukia said softly.

“She’s severely bipolar.  Has been since she was seven.  She’s not so bad when she’s on her medication, but she stops taking it and she’s just so angry all the time.  At first, when we took her to test, they thought she might have been schizophrenic or something worse, but they labeled her as Bipolar type one, and a notation for having psychopathic and narcissistic tendencies.  I…I thought that Ichigo was good for her.  He was such a sweet little boy, and he loved his mom so much.  Then when she died, he just stuck to my little girl, and it was so very sweet.  I never thought she would break that bond.  I never imagined,” she said softly, wiping tears from her eyes.

“We’ll let you know when things are proceeding,” Rukia said.  “Go home and get some rest.  We’ve got more work to do before we know anything for sure, but considering her violent tendencies, our psych consult already recommended that she’s a danger to herself and others right now, and she should stay in holding.  If she’s in custody much longer, she’ll be transferred to a secure psych ward.”

Hinata nodded.  “Please…can you ask Ichigo to call me?  Can you tell me how he is?”

Rukia shook her head.  “I can’t comment on him, I’m sorry, but since your daughter is involved with Sōsuke Aizen, and the two men were two of his enforcers…we just can’t take chances.”

She nodded.  “Okay, please, tell him I am sorry.”

Rukia nodded.  “When it is all over, you’ll be able to see him,” Rukia said as she escorted her out.

A few minutes later Renji came up behind her.  “Well?”

Rukia looked at him.  “She was semi-aware.  I think she was trying to ignore what was in front of her.  She confirmed the medical history of bipolar disorder that Dr. Ishida diagnosed.  And no surprise, she was labeled with narcissistic tendencies and psychopathic tendencies as well.”

Renji shook his head.  “This is fucked up.”

Rukia sighed and went back to her desk.  She had more reports to write up now.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Uryuu Ishida was almost dozing asleep on the couch when there was a knock at the door.  He jolted awake and stood up, going to answer it. 

“Honsho?” he said, surprised to see her.  “Wow, how did you even get the address?” he asked as he stepped back to let her in.

“Um, Sado gave it to me at the Rukongai,” she said as she came in.  “She said you and Inoue lived here together.”

Uryuu nodded.  “Yeah, let me get her, she’s in her room.”  He went down a hall and came back with Orihime.

“Honsho-kun!” she exclaimed, coming over and hugging her with a grin.  “What are you doing here?” she asked, smiling brightly.

“I came to see you both, um, can we sit down?” she asked.

“Of course, come this way,” Uryuu said, leading them into the living room.  “Can I get you some tea?”

Chizuru nodded.  “That would be nice, Ishida,” she said with a smile.

Uryuu came back with the kettle and the tea in short order.  While he was gone, the girls had talked about their current lives. 

“So, now, what brings you here?” Uryuu said, handing her a teacup.

Chizuru sighed. “Um, actually, I…it’s about Ichigo Kurosaki.”

Both Uryuu and Orihime exchanged glances.  That was a name neither had heard since they’d been in school.  Back then, Ichigo had expressed quite clearly that he was not interested in having anything to do with them and he wanted them to stay away, as well as the rest of their circle of friends.  He seemed completely obsessed with Arisawa Tatsuki, and while she still hung out with them, Ichigo would never stay around them, always taking off to the library if they were together.

“Kurosaki?  I believe he said he didn’t care if we fell off the planet,” Uryuu said, rolling his eyes.  “What should we care about what’s going on with him?  He doesn’t care about us.”

Chizuru suddenly burst into tears.  Orhime stared for a moment then moved to sit by her and put an arm around her. Uryuu just stared in shock.

“I…I’m sorry…so sorry…  Menoly swears it isn’t my fault, and…and I…I’m trying to believe her, but it is my fault, if I…if I hadn’t texted Tats that night…it wouldn’t have happened!” she sobbed, grabbing a napkin and trying to clean her tears away.

“What are you talking about?” Uryuu said, sitting his tea down and leaning toward her.

“I didn’t know, none of us knew what…what was happening, and we should have looked, we should have cared, he was supposed to be our friend, and if we had taken the time…” she said, blowing her nose noisily into the napkin.  “How long, and how much he’s been through, maybe…maybe we could have stopped it before it started!” she explained, sighing deeply.

“Honsho-kun, I don’t understand, what are you talking about?” she asked, frowning and handing her another napkin.

Chizuru dabbed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to get her emotions under control.  “I’m sorry, I’ve been a mess since yesterday when Tats came down to the pub and got into a fight with my girlfriend and her best friend.”

“Tatsuki-kun got in a fight with your girlfriend?  What about?” Orihime said, shocked.

“They…they wouldn’t tell her where Ichigo was, and told her she had to leave, she wasn’t welcome, and the things she said…I can’t…” she said, sighing out shakily.

Uryuu shook his head.  “Why wouldn’t they tell her where he was?  She’s his girlfriend.  You are making no sense, Chizuru.”

“Okay, I just, I’m a mess.  I didn’t know, I really didn’t, and I saw Ichigo, and he had a big bruise on his face, and you know, he was always getting into fights in school, and he was being flirted with shamelessly by this guy that was sitting with him at the bar.  It was cute, I mean, really, Ichigo was never straight, we all knew that, but he tried so very hard for Tats.  I could tell he was into this guy.  So I just sent a message to Tats saying I didn’t know they broke up.”  Chizuru swallowed.  “She didn’t know he was there, and I sent her a picture and she got mad and then I didn’t hear from her.  Ichigo was working there, I found out, and he seemed happy.  Then…then…I was there last night.  Tats came in, and she was screaming and yelling, and I found out what happened, and I caused it.”

Uryuu sighed, leaning back and crossing his arms.  “So she wasn’t happy he was cheating on her and they broke up, big deal,” he said, waving a hand dismissively.

“I wish they had, if she’d broke up with him, that was what I convinced myself that night would happen.  They’d break up, and he’d be happy.  But that wasn’t it,” she said, steeling herself.  “Tats has been into drugs for a while, and the guy that sells them to her is Aizen, the guy that deals for most of the area.  Well, she got two of his guys to come to their place.”

Uryuu frowned.  “She had a couple guys beat him up?  That’s a bit extreme.”

Chizuru shook her head.  “No, she beat him.  She’s been beating him, since we were in school.  Menoly said his medical records are full of things from domestic abuse.  She’s been hurting him, Uryuu.  She wouldn’t _let_ him have friends.  She told him that if anyone tried to come to their place, she’d hurt him, and she _did_ those few times you and Chad went over there to see him after they moved in together.  She put in the hospital five times,” she said softly.  “And we didn’t notice.”

Uryuu blinked and sat up again.  “That’s not possible.  He loved her so much, and all she did was complain about him…” he trailed off as it hit him.  “Oh.”

“But…but what she did this time…she’s in jail now.  They won’t let her out, no bail or anything.  She had those guys come and they were waiting for him.  And she watched while they…they raped him in front of her because she told them to do it.  And she laughed about it.  She _laughed_ about it when she talked about it,” she said, eyes scrunched in pain.

Both Uryuu and Orihime sat stock still for a long moment.  They had no idea what to say.  Chizuru continued.  “Chad, he plays in the band down there, he knows already.  But the guy that owns the Rukongai, he runs a youth hostel, and he had been trying to get him to leave her but he didn’t think she would go this far.  He’s living there now, in an apartment, and they’re making sure he’s safe.  You can come see him, if you want, and I think it might be good if you wanted to see him, if we…we went together.”

Uryuu nodded, his mouth incredibly dry.  “Yeah, yeah.  Tomorrow?”

Chizuru handed him a business card as she stood.  “That’s Shinji, the owner, call him and let him know what time you’ll be there.  No one gets in without Shinji’s approval.”

She turned and left quietly, leaving the two alone to stare at the card with Shinji’s number in shocked silence.


	10. The Ichiyo Blossom

****

“Glad to see you up tonight,” Yumichika said with a soft smile as he handed Ichigo a virgin daiquiri.  “How long until you can have a real drink, sweetie?”

Ichigo smiled.  “Another couple weeks, actually,” he said with a grin taking the strawberry drink.

“Lovely, sweetie, we’ll have to have a nice little party for you,” he said before he went back to get drinks for someone else.

Ichigo sighed.  Grimmjow and Ichigo were helping shut down the Dangai next door and Ichigo had gotten tired a bit early.  Grimmjow had sent him over to the Rukongai to have a seat and rest for a bit.  He put his head down on the bar and then sat up again.  He had been working in the Dangai as a barista, so he was wearing the uniform top, which was a plain brown polo shirt with the Dangai logo on the back of it.  He could wear his jeans that Grimmjow had bought him.  They fit better than the ones he had, but Ichigo complained that they might be a little too tight. Grimmjow convinced him they looked fine.

He didn’t notice when someone sat down next to him an ordered a drink, to be honest he was away in his own head at the moment. 

“Hey,” the woman next to him said.

Ichigo blinked and looked over to see a woman who he hadn’t seen before in the place.  She was dressed well, not too revealing, and had short dark hair.  The second he saw her hair, his heart rate escalated.  It was completely unconscious and something he in no way could control.  He smiled wanly at her and nodded in response.

“What’s wrong?” she said, smiling and showing off bright teeth.  “You don’t acknowledge a lady when she speaks?”

Ichigo sipped his drink nervously and hoped Yumichika came over soon.  “Ah, hi,” he said, just in hopes that she’d quit talking to him.

“That’s better.  You look about the same age as my son,” she said as she picked up the drink Yumichika left.  Unfortunately, the other man was gone before Ichigo could flag him down for help.  They had gotten rather busy.

Ichigo nodded.  “Oh?” he said softly. 

She smiled, and Ichigo could tell she was probably in her thirties or forties at least. “I’m Candice,” she said, leaning closer to him.  “What’s your name?”

Ichigo swallowed.  “I-Ichigo,” he said, looking at her suspiciously.

“Aww, sweet strawberry,” she said leaning closer.  Ichigo leaned further away.  “So, you here with someone?”

Ichigo swallowed nervously.  “Yeah, actually…I’m waiting for my…”

“Oh what a shame, she stood you up?” she asked, leaning closer.  Ichigo grabbed the counter to keep from falling off the stool.  Yumichika looked up from across the bar and saw what was happening, too late to stop it.  She leaned over and smiled at him, almost close enough to touch his face with her lips.  “You are very pretty, you know,” she breathed on him, her breath a mix of whiskey and smoke and Ichigo gagged at the smell.  He probably would have been fine if she hadn’t reached over and grabbed his ass with her hand.  He let out an decidedly loud yelp and fell completely backward off the seat just as Grimmjow walked up.

“Baby!” Grimmjow said, kneeling down to help him up.  “Hey, you okay, babe?”

Ichigo scrambled backward away from him.  “No, no, not…just…no!” he said, getting to his feet, but stumbling and nearly face planting again.  “I can’t…can’t…can’t do this…” he panted, nearly running into the door to Shinji’s office.  The entrance to the apartment was in the back of his office.

Grimmjow was hot on his heels, leaving the woman staring after the pair of them and everyone staring at her.  Yumichika walked up and glared at her.  “Was that really necessary?” he said.

“What, how was I supposed to know he’s a fag?” she said, looking up at Yumichika and blinking as she realized that he was a man.

“And you have a problem with ‘fags’?” a voice spoke from behind her.  She turned around to see the uniformed Ikkaku standing there.  “Because that would be a shame, since I’m here picking up my boyfriend from work.  Ready, Yumi?” he said, glancing up at him.

Yumichika sighed and put down the bar rag.  “Only slightly.  You better not come back, honey, and I’d suggest finding a different place to try and snag some cub, because this is not cougar town.”

Yumichika snorted and came out for Ikkaku to put his arm around him as they walked out together.  The woman exited in short order.  No one bothered to have her pay for her drink, and no one cared to ask her name.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

“Baby, you okay?” Grimmjow called as he took the stairs down two at a time.  “Come on, don’t shut me out here, babe.”

Ichigo was sitting in the largest chair with his knees on his chest and rocking back and forth.  He wasn’t crying but Grimmjow could tell the possibility was there.  He came up slowly and Ichigo’s head snapped toward him.  Grimmjow stopped and held up his hands.

“Peace baby, peace,” he said softly.  “I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“Fine, stupid, stupid…woman,” he muttered through grit teeth.  “She…she just couldn’t keep her hands to herself.  Personal space!”   He was obviously bothered a great deal.  “Who just…just grabs someone’s ass!  Really!  And…and getting in my face and telling me she had a son my age!  Why would you do that?  That…that’s sick, that’s what that is!” he said still rocking.  “Why would anyone want to find a…a…a…date the age of their own kid!”

Grimmjow stood up and moved toward him.  “Baby, you need to calm down, she’s gone already, I’m sure Yumichika gave her a good verbal thrashing.  You know how he is.”

Ichigo glared at him.  “I don’t need to do anything!” he practically shouted, jumping up from the seat and nearly falling as he did it. 

“Babe, please, you’re not thinking rationally, you need to…” Grimmjow began.

Grimmjow didn’t finish because Ichigo’s eyes flashed and Grimmjow couldn’t duck in time.  “I don’t need to do anything!” he screamed this time, punctuating the thought with a hard right hook at Grimmjow’s undefended face.  Grimmjow blinked then crumpled.  It was honestly a lucky shot, because the chances of anyone, let alone Ichigo who he outweighed by quite a bit, knocking him flat out in one hit was small.  Ichigo had luck, or rather, bad luck on his side as he ran back up the stairs and out the front door of the Dangai.  Everyone was gone and the door locked from the inside, so the pressure plate let him out, and it locked behind him. 

He pulled the thin jacket around him against the coolness of the night and realized he hadn’t even grabbed his phone.  He was crying now, but he didn’t care, he just kept walking.  He had to clear his head.  He had to think without someone standing over him and watching him.  He had to…

He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and stared at an all too familiar person grinning at him.  The tall lanky one that had been with Tatsuki.  His heart flew to his throat and he was on the brink of hyperventilating as he stepped toward him.  He stepped back and turned to run but was caught by the green eyed man that had been with them.

“Night, night,” he said, and jabbed a syringe into Ichigo’s neck.  The world slipped and faded away.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

“Man, this is so lame,” Nnoitra muttered as he sat in the dark car beside Ulquiorra.  “Can’t we like go in the back and fuck while we wait?” he whined.

Ulquiorra rolled his green eyes.  “We’re supposed to be watching for an opportunity to nab him.  We can’t go in the back and have sex.”

Nnoitra groaned.  “Ulquie, I’ve got blue balls.  Please?” he muttered.

“No,” Ulquiorra said without looking at Nnoitra’s attempt at a puppy dog eye.  “Now, stop whining or you won’t get a chance to fuck me at all.”

Nnoitra humphed and crossed his arms.  “You’re so mean to me, Ulquie.”

“I’d rather know just what the hell Aizen wants with this kid so badly,” Ulquiorra said as he watched people come and go out of the pub.  “I’m tired of sitting out here.”

“At least the crazy bitch is locked up…” Nnoitra said with a hollow sound to his voice.  “That was some fucked up shit, man.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t enjoy yourself.  You like to fuck anything with legs,” the pale man answered without moving his eyes from the building.

Nnoitra groaned inwardly.  This again.  “Well I didn’t see you telling the bitch now when she wanted you to dick her pussy.”

Ulquiorra snorted.  “You can’t tell me you would have turned him down in a bar if he had come onto you.”

Nnoitra rolled his eyes.  “Ulquie, you know that’s not true.  You’re everything, remember?  The rest don’t matter.  We just…we just gotta do what we’re told until we can get the fuck out of here.  You and me, remember?”

Ulquiorra turned to him and sighed.  “I know.  I grow tired of waiting for that time.  And I worry about the state of our souls when we do get out of here.”

There was a long silence between them as the often discussed issue was left hanging in the air.  They could go on for days about it, but it would never change anything about their situation.  _Do as you’re told, boys, and you’ll make it out alive._ That of course meant the opposite was true.  Doing anything except as they were told meant they wouldn’t make it out alive.

“There he is, down there!” Nnoitra said.  “I’ll follow on foot, get around in front, you come up behind him.”

“He’s going to freak when he sees us, you know,” Ulquiorra said, glancing at him. 

“Just have to be fast,” Nnoitra said.  “I want this over with.”

Ulquiorra nodded as Nnoitra moved parallel to him for a few blocks then he parked and easily caught up to him.  He could tell he was upset or something.  Then, when he saw Nnoitra boxing him in, he turned and when his eyes locked on Ulquiorra’s vivid green ones, he understood the depth of their sin.  He swallowed the ball in his throat and dosed him with the sedative before he got up the thought to bolt.

Nnoitra walked up and swung the boy up into his arms and dumped him into the backseat of the sedan.   Both men got in and took off to Aizen’s warehouse.  They both hoped this was worth it.  They both hope this cleared the slate.  Nnoitra pondered if they’d ever wash their hands of the blood they had on them, and Ulquiorra wondered if they even deserved another day of life.  All of this…all of this…for one life.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Uryuu and Orihime stood outside the Rukongai Microbrewery and Pub waiting for Chizuru to arrive.  A few minutes passed and she came up out of the parking lot.  She nodded and led them inside and to one of the tables.  As soon as they came in, Chad, who was over at the bar with Shuuhei, headed over and sat down at the table.

“Chad, it has been a long time,” Uryuu said, reaching out to shake his hand.

Chad nodded without speaking and shook Orihime’s hand.  She smiled.  “Chado, how are you?”

“Well.  I play in the band here,” he said with a nod.

Chizuru smiled as Menoly came over with drinks and sat them down.  “Guys, this is Menoly, my girl.”

“Hi there, you must be Uryuu Ishida and Orihime Inoue.  Very nice to meet Chi’s friends.  You just missed Ichi, there was a little incident, and he went down to his apartment,” she said, sighing.

“What happened?” Chad said, looking to her.

“Cougar came in and was trying to get into his pants.  He freaked out a bit and took off with Grimmy on his heels.  He should calm him down, he usually does,” she said.  “I’ll come back in a bit, got some more tables, Chi.”

“Okay, see you later,” Chizuru said with a smile.

“So can you tell me what you wanted us to come here for?” Uryuu said, sipping the soda he’d been brought.

Chizuru sighed.  “I just thought Ichigo could use a reminder of his self-worth, you know.  He’s so different, you guys can’t even understand how bad it is. Chad knows.”

Chad nodded slowly.  “He is not well,” he said quietly.  “He needs help.”

Orihime nodded.  “I just can’t believe Tatsuki-kun could do something so terrible.”

Chizuru arched a brow.  “I heard that she’s supposed to be on medication and she gets bad if she doesn’t take it.  I’ve heard her talk to her mom on the phone, back before I stopped hanging around her.  It came up about her not taking ‘them’ and getting angry at her mom.”

“I just can’t believe what’s happened.  And why in the world did you ever think it was a good idea to ask Tatsuki if she knew Ichigo was cheating on her?” Uryuu said narrowing his eyes at her.

“I…I thought they’d broken up.  Then…” Chizuru said with a sigh.  “Then I thought if they weren’t, they should be because I’ve never seen Ichigo that happy.  How could I know she was _that_ insane?  I thought she’d break up with him.  Then I thought he’d be with this Grimmjow and they’d be happy.”

Orihime sighed.  “No one would expect someone to go that far…” she said quietly.

All four looked up when there was a slam in the back and Menoly went running toward the back.  Chizuru and the others got up and followed to see what was going on.  Grimmjow was leaning against the doorway, holding a hand to his jaw and looking none too steady.

“Is he here?” he gasped.

“Ichigo?” Menoly said.  “No, he hasn’t come up here.”

“Shit, he’s gone, is he next door?” he said, going back through the office and finding the Dangai empty.  “Shit, shit, did he leave?” he asked, running toward the door and out into the front.

“Byakuya, he said there was a car here with an office,” Menoly said as she ran out the door behind him. 

Grimmjow scanned the lot until he saw a car with someone sitting in the front seat.  He ran over to it and found the officer, unconscious with a post it note stuck to his forehead.

“My boy now – Hearts, Aizen.”

Grimmjow ground his teeth together.  “Baby…he took him…”

Menoly put her arm around him.  “Chi, go tell Shinji, he’s upstairs in the hostel!  Hurry, get Byakuya here!” she yelled over her shoulder then helped Grimmjow get to his knees before he fell.  There was no way she could hold his weight.  “Grimmy, come on, don’t lose it now,” she said, as Uryuu and Orihime stood back and watched.  Chad knew something like this would happen to the other man.  “Grimmy?” she said after he didn’t respond for a long time.

Suddenly, Grimmjow sprang like a coil and slammed his fist into the back door of the unmarked police car, denting it and spraying blood everywhere from his knuckles splitting on the metal.  “I will kill him.  I will find him.  I will kill him for taking my baby.  I won’t lose someone again.  I won’t.  I will fucking kill everyone between me and him,” he said sternly and stood slowly.  Menoly swallowed and stepped back. 

There were sirens in the distance and Shinji came running out and stopped beside where Grimmjow was standing.  Shinji put his hands on Grimmjow’s back gently and the furious man turned burying his head in Shinji’s shoulder.  Shinji patted his back as he began to sob against him and whispered words meant to comfort.  He knew, though, that there would be no comfort had for Grimmjow this evening.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo woke with a start and realized he was staring at a blindingly bright light overhead.  He winced and turned his face away from it and realized to his horror he was bound and gagged.  He pulled on his arms and legs to find no give in whatever was restraining him.  He screamed against the gag, a soft cloth, it felt like.

“Oh, my, you’re awake?” came a voice that was vaguely familiar to Ichigo’s ears.

A man with brown hair leaned over him and pushed the black framed glasses up his nose.  He pulled on the restraints and then seemed to be doing something outside Ichigo’s vision.  Ichigo screamed against the gag again.  A second later, he leaned over him again.

“Oh, I suppose you want to know what’s happening?” he asked.  Ichigo nodded vigorously.  The man smiled.  “I’m Sōsuke Aizen.  I suppose you would know me as a…what’s the word?  Drug kingpin.  Yes, that’s it.  I make and sell designer and synthetic drugs as well as the more traditional sort.  But would you like to know a secret?”

Ichigo stared at him as he walked around the table.  “I hate drugs.  I hate drug users.  Such useless creatures, taking pills and things to make their pathetic lives easier.  That’s what I need you for.  You see, before you were born, I had a beautiful young assistant.  Her name was Masaki.  One day, I slipped something in her drink, a very potent drug I was field trial testing without her knowing, of course.  It had no reaction on her whatsoever, yet it killed everyone else I gave it to.  I was curious.  Then she ran off and married Isshin, and they went off to have little brats.”

Aizen walked around and pulled out a needle and began to draw several vials of blood from Ichigo’s bound arm.  “Then, you were nine at the time, I approached her and she refused to come back even after I explained how much I needed her.  She was the Holy Grail.  She should have just come with me and I wouldn’t have had to kill her.  I couldn’t let her go with the secret.”

Ichigo’s eyes went wide.  That night, in the rain, when he passed out and woke to find his mother dead underneath him, this was the man that murdered her?  He felt his eyes tear up, but he wasn’t sure if it was from the needles in his arm or the emotional pain.

“Then that little girl attached herself to you.  And she was so easy, once she got older, to convince she didn’t need those nasty medications for her bipolar disorder.  She just needed a healthy dose of coke or a few joints, and she’d be fine.  And I kept an eye on you to see if you had the same thing that your mother did.  Color me surprised when I lifted a blood sample from your last hospital visit, I must thank Dr. Urahara for keeping such good records, and I found what I was looking for.  White.  In the purest form imaginable, you are a fountain of it.   The chemical bonded to your very DNA, my boy.  From your blood,” he said and lifted a vial into the light.  “It was the adrenaline that activated it.  I’d checked before and it wasn’t there.  However, after your whore of a girlfriend decided to let my boys have their way with you, the chemicals in your body finished the process, making you ripe and ready.”

Ichigo struggled against the bonds and screamed at him again.  “Oh, yes, you want to know what will happen to you?”

Ichigo nodded with a scowl etched into his brows.  “Well, see, I need your blood.”  He held up a vial.  “This vial will produce enough White for about two hundred doses.  The single most addictive substance I’ve ever created, and I couldn’t use it because it was toxic.  You, however, metabolized it.  And distilled from you blood, I will enslave this city, perhaps this country, because one tiny dose, one drop, is all it takes.  All thanks to you.”  He smiled wickedly and kissed his forehead.  “I’ll take care of you, don’t worry.   You’ll have a pint drawn of your precious blood each month.  Maybe two.  I don’t want you to die, but I want you to be weak.  So as soon as I’ve verified it, I’ll give you a little drain before I send you down to your new room.  Good thing you got used to my boys, because no one stays for free.  You’ll have to work, but your work will just be on your back,” he said, patting Ichigo’s cheek gently.

Ichigo screamed against the gag again as Aizen left, shutting the door behind him.  He dropped his head back onto the bed and panted.  He was so stupid.  Why’d he walk out of the building?  He did this to himself.  All he had to do was stay with Grimmjow, and he couldn’t even do that.  Now, he was going to be lucky if he ever saw him again.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Before sunrise, the Rukongai was filled with people.  On the door to the Rukongai and the Dangai hung signs saying they were closed for personal reasons.  There was not much more personal than this to Shinji.  Shinji had cleared the tables and arranged the chairs in a large circle in which he paced currently.  Ichigo’s old friends, Uryuu, Orihime, Chizuru, and Chad had all come.  All the kids in the hostel had come, as had almost everyone that worked in the Rukongai, and Ikkaku, Byakuya, Renji, and Rukia were there. The strange foursome of Nanao, Jushiro and Shunsui were there with their boy, Wonderweiss.  Wonderweiss was currently playing on his tablet at the bar sipping a soda. Grimmjow and Nel were the only two they were waiting for. 

Finally the door opened to admit the pair, walking hand in hand. They sat down beside Shinji.  Grimmjow’s face was hollow and it was obvious he hadn’t slept.  Nel looked worried.  Shinji stood up and addressed everyone.

“So this isn’t your usual situation.  And anyone who doesn’t want to be involved is free to leave.  We can’t be sure the outcome of what we’re planning.  I am sorry for asking any of you to be involved in this, but I won’t ask for anything I will not do myself,” he said, looking around at them.  “We’re bringing down Sōsuke Aizen and his entire organization, and we’re bringing Ichigo back.”

There was murmured discussion and Grimmjow looked up and locked eyes on Shinji.  Shinji smiled.  “I’m not just doing this for Grimmjow and Ichigo.  I’m doing that for all of us.  They aren’t the only ones here he’s hurt.  More than one of my kids has been addicted to his drugs.  More than one has been abused and used as mules.  Some have been prostitutes to try and pay off debts to him.  This stops now.  He takes advantage of the young people here, he takes advantage of us.  It stops.”

Byakuya stood up then and looked around.  “The operation is organized but includes someone, several someones, going inside.  This means I need to find two or three girls that could go under at Las Noches as strippers.  Grimmjow is already in as a bartender.  We could use a couple more people going in.  This has to break at one time, and once you’re in, you’re on your own.”

Loly stood up, followed by Lisa, Mashiro, Yumichika, and Kensei.  Everyone stared at them.  “You’re sure?” Byakuya asked.  All of them nodded.  “Very well, Renji, take them next door and get them up to speed. Everyone else, I need everyone to keep their ears open.  Information is key.  Shinji, thank you again,” he said, nodding and leaving.

Shinji looked at the others who didn’t work at the Dangai and Rukongai.  “What I need you to do is be customers and listen, here, Dangai, or even Las Noches if you can.  We need ears.”

Jushiro smiled and nodded.  “I’m sure that Wonderweiss and I can spend some days in the Dangai together.”

“I certainly won’t mind a few trips to Las Noches!” Shunsui said with a smirk before he was smacked on the back of his head with her paperback.  He still winked at Shinji.

“Thank you, all of you,” Shinji said quietly before he walked past Grimmjow and put a hand on his shoulder.  “We’ll get him back.  I promise.”

Grimmjow nodded.  He looked up at Shinji.  “He’s my baby, Shin.  My Ichiyo…” he said queietly and Shinji grimaced.  He nodded. 

Ichiyo cherry trees surrounded Yoshino’s grave.  Before she killed herself, she’d left a note asking for them.  She said that one day, if Grimmjow moved on, he’d catch one of the pale blossoms that fell from the trees around her tomb, and when he did, he would be happy.


	11. White

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be pushing through to the end of this before I do revisions, so please remember that this is first draft and things may change.

****

“Mew.”

Nanao stopped cooking and listened.  She knew she’d heard a kitten meow.  She tilted her head to the side and adjusted her glasses as she listened. Nothing.  She sighed and went back to fixing breakfast.  The boys were still in bed, well, they were definitely awake, but they were in bed.  Shunsui had woke up with an impressive morning wood.  Nanao was on her monthly, and no matter how he begged her, she refused to have sex with him during that time.  And he begged a lot.  She deferred him to go spend the morning with Jushiro while she fixed breakfast.

“Mew, mew, mew!”

She turned and knew she’d heard it that time.  It wasn’t some strange role play Shunsui had convinced Jushiro to do, either.  That sounded completely different.  She never understood why Jushiro proceeded to do everything Shunsui asked of him, no matter how strange and possibly degrading it might be.  She certainly wouldn’t be caught dead with a collar and a leash on…

“Mew!”

Okay, that was enough, she knew she wasn’t hearing things for sure.  She headed into the living room where Wonderweiss was sitting watching TV, but something was off.  Unlike normally, he wasn’t super focused on the TV and he looked up when she walked into the room.

“Did I hear a cat?” she asked, frowning.

Wonderweiss shook his head violently and as if on cue, “Mew!” came from under his shirt.

“Are you hiding a kitten?” she asked him, half annoyed that he snuck a cat into the house and half amused that he thought hiding it under his shirt would work for long.

“Please don’t kill it!” he said suddenly.  Nanao blinked.  Wonderweiss spoke, very rarely, but when he did, it often had something to do with his real mother.  He carefully pulled a very tiny, and very dirty, and obviously stray kitten from under his shirt.  It turned big green eyes on Nanao and proclaimed its annoyance at being stuffed under a shirt very loudly.

Nanao smiled and kneeled down beside Wonderweiss on the floor and pet the little thing’s head.  “You need a bath little one, I think you’re black, but that might just be dirt!” she said gently.  Wonderweiss stared at her.  “Baby, I’m not going to hurt him,” she said gently, reaching for the little creature.  “But we need to check him out and make sure that he’s okay.”

Wonderweiss hesitated but handed it to Nanao then got up and followed her into the kitchen.  He watched as she filled the sink with warm water and got some of the gentle soap from under the cabinet.  The kitten tried to get away, but Nanao’s hands were steady and sure as she scrubbed all the black off the poor thing.  Underneath, it was pure white.  She grabbed a towel and wrapped it up and handed it back to her adopted son. 

“Other than being too skinny, he’s a healthy little boy kitten, and pretty white too,” she said, smiling as Wonderweiss looked at the kitten.  “What do you want to name him?”

Wonderweiss turned unbelieving eyes on Nanao.  His real mother had never allowed animals in her house. She considered them to be dirty and anything dirty had to be gotten rid of in her house.  Her house had to be perfectly clean all the time.  When Wonderweiss had seen this poor wretch on the way home the day before, he couldn’t leave it.  It was alone and scared in a trash heap, and everyone was walking by it, not listening to it cry.

“I…can keep Yuki?” he asked quietly, blinking owlishly at Nanao.

She smiled gently.  “Of course, sweetie.  You can keep Yuki.  After breakfast, I’ll take you to the store and we can get some food, toys and a box for him.”

Wonderweiss nodded happily and headed back into the living room.  Nanao sighed and shook her head.  She always wanted to run into Wonderweiss’s mother.  Just so she could punch the living shit out of her.  She shook her head and turned back to the stove and finished up breakfast.  She glanced at the clock, wondering if those two horny brats would be done before breakfast got cold.  She sighed, sitting down and picking up the paper and sipping her coffee.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Las Noches looked really classy from the outside.  In fact it looked like a really glitzy place.  The sign was tastefully done up, and the outside looked sleek and black.  A bouncer stood outside with a list of those that could enter for free, anyone else had to pay a fee, or some were turned away entirely.  They had a strict buy or leave policy, and had two girls on the stage all night starting at six.  Of course, once inside, it still looked classy.  Gold inlays on the bar, crystal chandeliers, velvet curtains, expensive looking liqueurs behind the bar, the whole fancy bar bit.  However, after a while, it became apparent that the gold was fake, the chandeliers were made of glass, the curtains were velour, and all those bottles behind the bar were empty and for display. 

A grand piano that was always out of tune sat in the far corner away from the stage.  At that piano a man with dark skin and a pair of sunglasses sat and played forlorn tunes for the half of the club that wasn’t watching the strippers in the front.  Kaname Tōsen played most night from about five until ten, working almost exclusively for tips.  He was pretty sure most the tips were pity tips for him being blind.  He didn’t care, he got to play his music, and that was all that mattered.  Though lately, he felt more and more like he should find a better place to play, no matter how high class Aizen claimed the establishment was.  He sighed and changed to another tune as the place began to liven up.  He’d lose himself in his music, like usual.

At the bar, Grimmjow seethed.  He couldn’t believe he was still doing this.  Those two fucks were over in Aizen’s private corner, and he was having a hard time not blowing his cover. 

“Yo, Hinto,” came the voice of one of Aizen’s managers, Aaroniero Arruruerie, or double A as everyone called him, came over with Yumichika.  Grimmjow looked up and smiled at him.

“Hey Double A, what’s up?” he asked.  To be honest, even though Grimmjow had worked for Aizen, no one recognized him.  He was, after all, known for the baby blue hair and his bright blue eyes.  A black rinse, a quick slicking back of his hair, and a pair of brown contacts made him a different person.  And just to be safe, he wore a very impressively done fake goatee and mustache.

“This is Kerri, she’s gonna be tending bar with you tonight.  Be nice to her, she’s married, so watch out,” Double A said, slapping Yumichika’s ass as he turned and left.  Grimmjow heard him growl under his breath. 

Yumichika was also unrecognizable.  He was wearing a short skirt and an almost revealing wrap shirt.  While he didn’t have breasts, of course, Yumichika was amazing at cross dressing and had all the accessories to make it look real.  His hair was hidden under a long blonde wig and a pair of bright green contacts changed his eyes from their natural violet.  Of course, it helped that Yumichika had female periods where he preferred to be addressed as a woman.  Grimmjow thought he called it bigender or something like that.  He’d never been around him in a female phase, though.

“I’ve only just got here and I already want to vomit,” he muttered as he glanced over to the stage where Loly had taken the stage for the first time.  People were in love with her pigtails, which had been dyed a vibrant turquoise color.  Lisa and Mashiro would be coming in later that week.  Too many new people would be suspicious, but they had put out an ad for a bartender and a couple strippers, so it wasn’t that much of a stretch for them to take the spots.  Kensei had been given guard duty, and was supposed to pretend to be Loly’s older brother and Mashiro’s boyfriend.

“You get used to it,” Grimmjow muttered, glancing at the table where Aizen was sitting with one of the other strippers gyrating on his lap.  A few minutes in, he answered his phone and pushed her away.  Around him, several of his dealers and enforcers were gathered.  “I’m having a hard time being in the same room as those two fucking bastards that hurt Ichi.”

Yumichika glanced over and nodded as he started cleaning the glasses.  “I know, but don’t blow cover.  We need to find out where he is.”

Grimmjow nodded, and noticed Tesla was at the end of the bar again.  He felt sorry for the kid.  She spent most her nights in here, siting at the end of the bar trying to do homework despite the noise.  She always wore Lolita looking clothes, but with a decidedly punk flare, always skulls and spikes and everything.  Grimmjow had never seen her in anything else but the dresses with the petticoats under them.  She also wore an eye patch that switched eyes now and then. He knew her mother was one of Aizen’s prostitutes.

“Tesla, honey, you need anything?” he asked her.

She looked up and shook her head, and spoke, which when she did Yumichika glanced at her.  Yumichika was very good with voices, hence his ability to play a thoroughly convincing woman.  “Nah, I’m good, Hinto,” she said.

Yumichika knew the timbre of a male voice just after puberty, he remembered quite vividly.  Tesla was a trans girl.  Yumichika knew that could be a very bad thing here.  He’d heard horror stories of how some of the youth had been treated that wound up in Las Noches before Shinji found them.  Now, he was worried because she couldn’t be more than fourteen or fifteen at most.  Yumichika’s first female phase had happened about that age, and he remembered vividly having such trouble with his voice.  He shook his head.  This would be getting more complex than he thought.

At Aizen’s table, Nnoitra looked rather miserable sipping his whiskey through a straw.  His jaw had indeed been broken, and had to be wired shut for at least two weeks for it to heal.  Ulquiorra, luckily, had only suffered a mild concussion, which of course, couldn’t be seen.  So far, no one had let it go that Shinji Hirako had broken his jaw.

“Still can’t believe you let that fuckin’ fairy Shinji break yer jaw,” Yammy muttered into his own beer.

“Shut the fuck up,” Nnoitra said through his clenched teeth.

“Seriously, who lets a goddamned faggot do something like that?” Yammy continued.  “Oh yeah, I forgot, you got a faggot for a son.”

Nnoitra sat up straight.  “Daughter.  She’s my daughter, you fuck.”

“Oh, yeah?” Yammy said, leaning over and sneering at him.  “ _He_ ain’t got no fucking pussy yet, now does _he_?”

Nnoitra felt his hand twitching under the table.  “You know, he wants to be a girl so bad, I should take him and fuck him over the table like the bitch he is, what do you think, Nnoi?  Show him what it’s like to be a bitch?”

Before Aizen could intercede when he put down the phone, Nnoitra had dove over the table and was proceeding to beat the living shit out of Yammy.  Yammy, though he had girth on his side, was slow, and dazed by Nnoitra’s nimble jump over the table.

“You fat fuck, you leave her out of this, I will fuckin’ kill you if you touch her!” he screamed.

Grimmjow looked up, having never seen infighting like this.  He saw Tesla jump off the stool and go running over to Nnoitra who was still beating Yammy’s face bloody.

“Father!” the girl screamed and Nnoitra looked up and back at the bloody mess he’d left of Yammy’s face.  “Father, stop,” she said.

Nnoitra stood up, and grabbed a bar towel from the table and wiped his hands of the blood.  He looked down at Yammy.  One eye was swollen shut, the other was black already.

“You ever fucking say something about my daughter again, I will fucking kill you,” he said with such deadly seriousness that no one in the room made a move, not even Aizen.  He stepped over him and toward Tesla and kneeled down in front of her.

“I’m sorry, honey,” he said, sighing.  “I know I said I wouldn’t fight no more.”

Tesla nodded.  “I just don’t want you getting hurt, Father,” she said and kissed Nnoitra on the forehead. 

Tesla returned to her seat and resumed her homework, leaving Yumichika and Grimmjow staring at each other.  What exactly was going on with this guy?

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo woke up in a bed, his hands strapped down on either side of him and covered with a blanket.  He glanced to the side and saw an IV with clear liquid, and on the other, an IV that seemed to be draining blood.  His head felt like it was stuffed with sand.  He rolled his eyes and tried to focus on the room, but it was fuzzy.  From what he could tell it looked like a boudoir.  The bed he was on was perhaps a double, and both his wrists and ankles were strapped down with what looked like leather straps on his wrists.  A few minutes later, a strange guy with pink hair came in and disconnected both IV lines.

“Please, what…what’s happening?” he asked slowly.  Everything was like trying to get through mud.

“I’ve taken some blood for now.  Sleep.  I don’t know anymore,” Szayel said, leaving and shutting the door behind him.  He held up the blood bag and swallowed hard.  Tomorrow he was supposed to draw the bone marrow. 

He headed back to the lab and started the process of separating the blood out to test the pure White that should come from it.  The sample tested positive for it, now he just had to hope the whole blood would be the same.  After an hour, he had distilled a reddish powder which he formed into a pill and dropped three in the packet.  There was enough for much more, but Aizen wanted a sample immediately.  He headed up to the club and found Aizen trying to calm down an apparently angry Yammy.

“You’re gonna fuckin’ let him get away with this?” Yammy said, holding an icepack to his face.

“I’ve told you before that my deal with Nnoitra includes you leave his daughter alone.  I am not responsible for what happens to you if you break that rule,” Aizen said and looked up to Szayel.

“You have the first full sample?” he asked.

“I do,” he said, handing the packet over to him.  Aizen picked it up and stared at the pink pills.  

Aizen sent Ulquiorra over to grab one of the druggies that was waiting in the corner for Aizen to give him his payment for muling a shipment last week.  He handed him one of the pills.  He stared for a minute in confusion and looked at Aizen. 

“The fuck is this shit?  I work for fuckin’ China White,” he muttered.

“Better, a new designer drug, my friend, that gives you a better high with less side effects,” Aizen said smoothly, smiling at the foul smelling druggie.

He shrugged, popping the pill into his mouth.  He waited for a minute and then his eyes dilated to bare rims of gray and he sighed deeply in obvious euphoria.  “Oh good god, that’s…fuckin’ amazin’,” he muttered. 

Aizen smiled.  “How much can you have by tomorrow?” he asked Szayel.

“About two hundred, I think,” he said with a nod.

“And the marrow?” Aizen asked, smiling as the druggie wandered off.

Szayel shook his head.  “I don’t know how potent or even if it can be distilled from marrow.  We know that the marrow makes the blood cells, so most likely going directly to the marrow would make a limited source.  I’ll test the draw tomorrow, just in case.  I don’t think marrow is a viable distillation, however.”

Aizen nodded.  “Makes sense.  Continue, and make sure that two hundred is done by tomorrow.  How soon before another draw?”

Szayel shook his head.  “We should wait six weeks…”

“When?” Aizen asked.

“I can probably do three or four weeks, but subject will be weakened,” Szayel said slowly.

“No matter about that, a drug fountain doesn’t need to do much save lie there, and take the occasional fucking,” Aizen muttered, sipping his wine.  “Now go, and see that the batch is ready for tomorrow’s distribution.”

Szayel nodded, knowing too well that things were going to go bad once Aizen realized that the more blood they took, the less potent White would become.  He could tell from the cellular decay that the source would be limited.  Once the subject’s body had recycled his current blood supply completely, the pure White would be used up, and he would need another infusion of adrenaline to serve as a catalyst for his blood to be useful for more White.  He hoped something would happen before that revelation could be made.  He also hoped that Aizen didn’t realize that the more adrenaline and cortisol was released, the more potent White became.  If he realized that, he knew that the subject was in for a lot more suffering.

At the bar, Grimmjow had managed to overhear very well what the pink haired man had said to Aizen.  The subject had to be Ichigo.  So that meant that Aizen had him for a specific reason.  He needed to get his hands on some of those pills so he could take them to Byakuya.  He’d never heard of White.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Shunsui kissed Nanao, Jushiro, and Wonderweiss before he headed out to Las Noches.  They warned him to be careful, but he honestly wasn’t afraid of them.  He was a silent partner in the Rukongai and the Dangai, and he was rarely seen in public.  He often left the house without his two lovers, mostly because Jushiro was often too ill, and Nanao was often too busy handling business matters.  As he had the car drop him outside Las Noches, he wondered at how he ended up in such an unusual family. 

He’d been in loveless marriage, to be honest.  His ex-wife had been with him for all the rough times, but by the time money wasn’t an issue, they both realized, they didn’t love each other.  Shunsui had been seeing his old college roommate and one time lover Jushiro more often, and he realized how much in love with him he still was.  When he told his ex, she had said she too had fallen out of love, and fell into love with an old flame of her own.  They parted, and he gratefully gave her half of their investments.  After all, without her by his side, he never would have made it where he was today.

Nanao, he’d known her for a long time.  She’d been his assistant forever it seemed like, and once he told her that he was divorcing his wife, things changed.  At first, the idea of loving two people seemed strange to her and the thought of living with Jushiro even stranger.  She was strictly straight and monogamous, and Jushiro was strictly gay, so it was obvious that they’d never see each other as lovers.  However, Shunsui loved them both with all of his heart, and so their family had come together.  Then, Nel had helped add Wonderweiss to their lives, something they would always be grateful for as well.

He smiled, walking up to the bouncer and paying the fee to enter.  It was just past ten, and the place was full, especially around the stage where two women were performing their routines.  He recognized Loly, so he sat near the other one he didn’t know.  Best to keep the fact he knew one of them to himself, he thought.  After they performed two sets, Loly was picking up a bill and one of the men in the front reached up and grabbed the back of her g-string, pulling her down off the stage.  Shunsui started to stand but then saw that the very large bouncer, Choe was his name he seemed to remember from the files he’d read, came over and picked up the man by the collar who was trying to strop Loly’s g-string off her and was doing who knows what else.

In a deep voice he said, “Don’t touch the girls,” and dragged the protesting man to the door while Loly hopped up on the stage and ran behind the curtains.  Choe unceremoniously tossed the man out the door.  He then  resumed his silent stand beside the stage.  Everything was quiet for a long moment before the next group of dancers came up.  He glanced over at the bar where he knew Yumichika and Grimmjow were both working.  If he hadn’t know it, he would have never recognized them.  He sighed, sipping his mimosa and smiled.  Only Yumichika could make his drinks right.


	12. Stress Relief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone wanted some Bya/Ren sexytimes....

****

Grimmjow fell into the couch exhausted at five am.  There was a knock on the door of the basement and he barely moved, just yelled.  “Come down, Renji!”

Renji came down quietly and saw the exhausted looking man on the sofa.  He smiled wanly.  Grimmjow hadn’t slept in the bed since Ichigo had been taken almost a week ago.  In fact, he hadn’t left the basement except to work at Las Noches.  He looked over the arm backwards at the red head.  He didn’t even try to smile at him.  The black wash in his hair had been too much to care for, so Grimmjow had just dyed his hair black until it was over and grew out his own facial hair to dye.  Even if some of his blonde roots started showing, he doubted he’d be connected with his previous blue look.

“Anything new?” Renji asked hopefully.

Grimmjow nodded.  “Managed to get this,” he said, holding up a packet of two pink colored pills.  “Took almost six hundred just for that.  Whatever it is, there is something going on, and it’s related to Ichigo.  I overheard Aizen talking to the chemist, and there’s only like two hundred of these pills that they can make each month.  Have no idea what Ichigo has to do with it, but I haven’t heard his name once.  However, the chemist said something about ‘the subject’.  I just have this bad feeling about the whole thing.”

Renji nodded, taking the pills.  “What do they call it?”

“White, which is weird, it isn’t even white, shit’s pink,” Grimmjow said, rubbing his eyes.  At least he’d taken the contacts out before he laid down this time.

“Got it, I’ll get this to the lab, see what we’re dealing with.  You at Las Noches tonight?” he said, turning and straightening his jacket.

Grimmjow hummed ascent but was already falling asleep.  Renji smiled as he looked back.  He gave the guy something.  He was one loyal fucker.  He headed up the stairs pausing to wave as he headed out through the Dangai, which opened at six.  Looked like Hiyori and Rose were on today as baristas. 

He made his way back to his car and got to the station.  He wanted to find out what this stuff was before any more of it made it on the streets.  Two hundred doses of the stuff, which was a really limited quantity.  He’d never seen a drug that was that limited in quantity.  Why was it so limited?  Why such small batches?

Renji got to the station and headed to the lab first where the ever eccentric (and perhaps a little insane) Mayuri Kurosuchi worked.  His two assistants, Akon and Hiyosu, were also interesting.  The former had skull implants with studs on his head, and the latter had a perfectly round, bald head.  He knocked to get Mayuri’s attention.  He looked up from his microscope and came over.

“Yes, Lieutenant Abarai?” he asked, looking unimpressed.  “You have some street drug you confiscated that will turn out to be a variation on LSD or ectacy?”

Renji grinned, holding up the packet with the pink pills.  “Don’t think so.  Called White, came from Aizen directly.  Claims there are only two hundred doses that can be manufactured each month, and charges three hundred a pill.  No idea what’s in it, but top priority, may have something to do with the Kurosaki kidnapping.”

Mayuri looked skeptical, narrowing his eyes as he swiped the packet away from him.  He snorted.  “We’ll see, will you be upstairs?”

Renji nodded.  “Paperwork for the acquisition, I’ll send your copies down to you.  Let me know what you find out.”

Mayuri sighed, taking the two pills back. He wondered if there was anything new out there anyway…

Renji headed back up the stairs and found Byakuya locked into this office on the phone.  No doubt he was still trying to get a warrant for Las Noches.  So far, suspicion of wrongdoing wasn’t getting them anywhere.  Rumors and speculation weren’t proof, or so that’s what every judge Byakuya had called kept telling him.  Renji could tell he was getting very stressed.  Of course, no one else would see it.  To anyone else, he looked like he was just as placid as ever.  He sighed and saw Ikkaku come in.  He got up and ran over to him.

“Hey, Ikkaku, can you do me a solid?” he asked, glancing back at Byakuya.

“What’s that, Renny?” he said, putting down some paperwork on the receptionist’s desk.

Renji smirked.  “I need you to help me get Kuya wound up.”

Ikkaku sighed.  “Really, Renji?  Office sex?”

“No, no, he’s stressed, really bad.  And he needs some relief, you know, and I thought, maybe if I could get him going, you know, might help.  He’s been really working hard on this case, and hitting dead ends everywhere.  He’s gotta let go sometime, Ikkaku, I mean, he can’t go on like this.  We’re not even fucking at home,” he said, whispering the last.

Ikkaku rolled his eyes.  “I didn’t need to know that.”

“Seriously, please, Ikkaku!” Renji said and gave him the best puppy dog eyes he could manage.

“You know, that look doesn’t work as well when you’ve got the tattoos on your forehead,” Ikkaku said, sighing.  “But fine, just let me know when, and I’ll try and help.”

Renji grinned and went back to his paperwork.  Four hours later, his phone rang and he saw it was the lab extension.  “Abarai,” he answered.

“Get your ass down here, and bring Kuchiki,” Mayuri said urgently.  “This is serious and definitely related to your kidnap vic.”

Renji swallowed.  “Okay, got it.”

He got up and knocked on Byakuya’s office door.  He knew he was in a bad mood because all the shades were pulled except the one on the door and the lights were off inside.  He was getting one of his migraines again, he imagined.  Another reason for some much needed stress relief.  He winced.  Damn, when he was in these moods, it was almost not pleasurable for Renji anymore.  He liked Byakuya’s roughness, and forcefulness, but when he got like this, it was like he completely forgot that Renji was another person.  It worked, though.  Usually, Renji would get something sweet the next day, and a couple days off work.

Byakuya got up and yanked the door open.  “What?”

“Kurosuchi’s got something on the drugs I brought in,” he said.  “Says it relates to Ichigo.”

Byakuya frowned and nodded, heading down to the lab with Renji in tow.  As soon as they got there, they knew it was something big.  Mayuri had both his assistants working on something and he was zipping back and forth between machines looking at readings.  He looked up when they came in.

“I know why this stuff’s pink,” he said first, looking up and back down.  He grabbed a sheet and handed it to Byakuya.  Renji leaned in and looked at it.

“What am I looking at?” Byakuya said with an exasperated tone.

“Red blood cells.  This is synthesized from human blood.  But not just any blood, there’s something remarkable about this sample.  This blood is different on the genetic level.  There’s an artificial protein that when the red blood cells are separated from the rest of the blood, it can be infused with antibodies from the same blood, it turns into this drug.  The synthesis causes the drug to fuse to the opioid receptors in the brain, not just attach to them, fuse.  Once it fuses to the receptors, a steady stream of the drug is necessary or there is massive overproduction of adrenaline and cortisol.  This may be the most addictive substance I’ve ever had in here, and completely new,” Mayuri said, looking at the microscope with a look of wonder.  “The intelligence to come up with this, I can’t imagine someone just starting in the business.  It had to be Aizen himself.”

“Enough with the hero worship, Mayuri, I know you were his lab partner a long time ago, you said it had to do with my vic?” Byakuya said, sighing deeply.

Mayuri shook his head. “Yeah, the DNA from the blood belongs to Ichigo Kurosaki.  One hundred percent match.  Amazingly, it isn’t degraded even after being processed like this.  The DNA sequence is perfectly intact, which is why I know this is a genetic modification.  Most likely passed from his mother, but it is a synthetic protein that is attached to his DNA.  My guess is whatever this is; it was given to Masaki Kurosaki before she left his employ, and when she gave birth to Ichigo, it passed on to him successfully.  Without fresh blood samples, I can’t be certain.”

“Contact Dr. Kisuke Urahara, he should have some samples from recent care,” Byakuya said sternly and took a copy of the report with him and walked out of the room without another word.

Renji was growing more worried by the second.  Byakuya’s eye was twitching.  The migraines always worried Renji.  More than once, he’d had to force him into the hospital for some bad ones that lasted nearly a week.  He honestly only knew one effective cure to them, and that was letting him have his way with him.  People always looked at him weird when he said he cured Byakuya’s migraines with sex.  He couldn’t help it, it was true.  Something about relieving the pressure and stress through sex was symbolic and literal at the same time. People always would have some comment about Renji’s “orgasm cure all” for things, but he knew his ‘Kuya.  He knew what worked.  Byakuya was on the edge of losing it, Renji knew, and he knew just a little flirting with Ikkaku or one of the others would end with Byakuya dragging him, quite literally by the hair, into his office and fucking him into barely being able to stand. 

Renji sighed, seeing Byakuya over talking to his sister.  He made eye contact with her and she gave a slight nod.  She knew what he was doing, of course.  She knew just as well how badly Byakuya was doing at the moment.  He sucked it up, stopping at his desk and digging around for the lube packets he kept in there.  He was hoping Byakuya would have that much forethought if he handed it to him.  If not, he’d be okay, more sore than he’d like, but okay.  He headed over where Ikkaku was talking to Kira, the receptionist and sat down on the desk.

“So, I’ll give him about five minutes before he comes over here,” Renji said, putting his hand on Ikkaku’s arm.  Ikkaku was facing Byakuya and immediately saw that he’d been seen.

“Renny, you sure about this, he does not look to be in a good mood…” Ikkaku said, a little worried.  “I know you like it rough, but what if he hurts you?”

Renji leaned closer to him.  “He won’t.”

“But I’ve never seen him like this,” Ikkaku said, realizing that Byakuya was giving him a stare that would kill.  “I mean, he’s seriously fuming.  I’ve never seen him look angry before.”

Renji leaned forward, touching Ikkaku’s face, just barely.  He heard the files drop to Rukia’s desk with a slap.  “Oh, maybe a minute…” he said quietly. 

Kira shook his head and leaned over to grab the stapler that was right by Renji’s hip.  Renji grabbed his hand and Kira jumped.  “What are you doing?  Leave me out of this!” he whispered harshly, seeing Byakuya’s gaze shift to him now.

“Come on, he’s not going to take it out on you guys,” Renji said, tipping his head to the side.  “My ass is the one that’s going to pay for this little game…”

“Oh boy,” Ikkaku said, stepping back a little.

Renji grinned and felt the inevitable hand grabbing a fistful of his hair from behind and yanking his head backward.  He let the grin fade before he looked up into Byakuya’s eyes which were burning with fury.

“What are you doing?” Byakuya said through clenched teeth.  “We are at work.”

“I know,” he said, looking as innocent as anything.  “I wasn’t doing anything…”

Even Renji was surprised when Byakuya yanked hard enough on Renji’s hair to pull him off the desk sideways.  Renji managed to keep his footing and not yelp because it fucking hurt.  Some of the officers that didn’t know about Byakuya and Renji’s rather…unusual relationship looked up in shock.  Byakuya drug him all the way to his office, kicking the door open and shoving him into the room, then slamming the door behind him and dropping the blinds on the door.

When one of the officers started to go to the office, Ikkaku stopped.  “Don’t worry, he’s fine.”

“But…he just…” the young officer stammered.

“Yeah, don’t go in there, trust me.  He’s gonna be walking funny when he comes out, but he’ll be fine, and the Lieutenant will be in a much better mood,” Ikkaku said. 

Renji fell over the desk from the force Byakuya threw him through the door.  He winced at the stinging in his scalp.  Maybe this hadn’t been the best idea, he thought as Byakuya slammed the door.  A second later, Byakuya flipped him around and pushed him back onto the desk, ripping Renji’s shirt off.

Renji gasped, hoping he had another shirt in his locker…  Then Byakuya began biting and sucking on his collarbone.  Renji tried to reach behind him and sweep some of the stuff off the desk because he had a pen cup trying to force itself up his ass at the moment.  He managed most of it before he was slammed on his back completely, Byakuya grabbing both legs and snapping the button off his pants as he forced them open.  Okay, he wasn’t sure he had more pants in his locker… 

“Pocket!” he managed as Byakuya growled at the pants which didn’t want to give.  “Pocket, please, lube!” he said, trying to get a stapler out from under his back.  He was already panting and hard and he could feel Byakuya against his thigh when he moved closer.

Byakuya fished out the packet and put it on the desk before he yanked Renji’s pants and boxers off in one motion.  Renji just held on because if he didn’t he was going to fall onto the floor.  He was already dripping and he felt Byakuya grip him hard.  Renji moaned and then saw Byakuya pulling off his tie.  A minute later he’d tied it around the base of Renji’s cock.  Renji whimpered.  It was going to be one of those.

“I’m going to punish you for being a fucking slut,” Byakuya growled as he leaned over and began kissing him roughly and teasing his cock.  Renji wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to take punishment, but he knew it would make Byakuya feel better, and it wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy it too.

Renji rolled his head back and nodded.  “Punish your slut,” he muttered, the signal that it was okay for Byakuya to do it.

It didn’t take but a moment before he flipped Renji again, pushing him over the desk and running his hands over his ass for a moment.  “You want me to punish you?”

“Please,” he said, wiggling his ass a little for him, and looking over his shoulder.  “I’ve been really, really slutty, I should have to cry for you.”

Byakuya growled, reaching over on the desk and grabbing a metal edged wooden ruler.  He moved it over Renji’s ass for a second before he swatted him with a snap.  Renji jerked, as always the first one never failed to surprise him, as the sting swept outward.  He might have come right then if Byakuya hadn’t tied off his cock.  He panted and squeezed his eyes closed as Byakuya took out a lot of frustration on Renji’s soon bright red colored cheeks.  Finally, Renji felt tears and started to pant.  “S-Sakura!” he shouted finally.  Byakuya stopped mid swing and blinked, putting down the ruler slowly.

Byakuya dropped to his knees and began rubbing his hands over Renji’s ass gently, carefully and then began to lick at the red streaks the metal part of the ruler had left on him.  He heard Renji panting for breath over him and he slid his hands over the hot skin.  “Such a good little slut,” Byakuya whispered, exhaling on the overheated flesh.  Renji whimpered again as he spread him apart and began licking at his entrance.  Renji gasped at the soft touch and let out a desperate moan as Byakuya slid his tongue inside slowly.  Renji gripped the edge of the desk hard enough to make his fingers popped.  After a few minutes of exquisite torture, Byakuya replaced his tongue with a finger and stood up, running his other hand over the base of Renji’s spine.  Byakuya watched intently as he slid a second finger into Renji and began twisting them to reach his prostate.  Renji let out a low pitched moan when he swept his fingers against it.

When Byakuya thought he’d waited enough for his ass to stop burning as much he pulled out and flipped him back over again, this time sitting him on the edge of the desk and pulling his face into him.  Renji wrapped his legs around Byakuya’s waist, wondering just when Byakuya had undone his pants.  He felt him nudging against him and wanted Byakuya to just do it, he was about to go insane being unable to come.  He probably could have come six times already.

Byakuya reached down and yanked the tie off Renji’s cock and went down on him without warning, dropping to his knees in front of him.  Renji threw his head back and clenched both legs around Byakuya’s head.  He wanted to grab his hair, but Renji knew better.  There was one thing Byakuya loved to do, but hated to have done to him, and that was yank hair.  Instead, Renji made fists on the desk on either side of him. “I’m going, ‘Kuya, going…” he muttered, punching the desk with his right fist.

Byakuya nodded slowly and slid his hand under him, slipping his fingers inside him and sliding them in and out, stabbing in Renji’s sweet spot repeatedly.  Renji let out a low moan as he came, Byakuya sucking him dry and then standing up to grab the back of his hair and lock him into a dominating kiss that led very quickly to Renji’s cock resuming a fully erect status.

“You young sluts, can go again and again,” Byakuya muttered in his ear before he bit down on it. Renji whimpered again.  “What do you want now?”

“F-fuck me, hard, ‘Kuya.  “F-fuck me like the slut I am,” he said, panting as he spoke.

Byakuya growled, grabbing the packet and ripping the corner off with his teeth.  He took a minute to slick himself quickly then pulled Renji to the edge of the desk, and slammed into him with one thrust.  Renji yelped in pain, but it would be all worth in in a few minutes as Byakuya pushed him onto his back again.  Renji panted with the force that Byakuya thrust into him. 

“Hah, hah,” Renji panted, trying not to yell instead.  While the windows were covered, they were just glass and not soundproof.  “Yeah, there, ‘Kuya,” he groaned as it seemed Byakuya found a stead rhythm right against his prostate.  He felt Byakuya tense and come into him hard.  He felt Byakuya grasp his cock again to stop him from going over. 

“Not yet,” he growled, slowly thrusting into him for a minute and Renji felt him hardening again.

“Twice, old man?” Renji muttered. 

There was a noncommittal growl and he felt the world spin as he was on his belly bent over the desk again.  Byakuya set an even more punishing rhythm this time, and it was hinging on being painful.  Renji had expected it, though, and he bit the inside of his cheek and let him go at his pace.  After a few minutes, he leaned over Renji’s back, sliding a hand over his cock and the other under his chest to play with his nipple.  Byakuya started pumping Renji in time with his increasingly deeper and harder thrusts as he pinched and tweaked his nipple.

“Hah, ‘Kuya, close, close,” Renji said, trying not to bounce his face off the desk with the force Byakuya was fucking him.

Byakuya tightened his grip on him and bit into his shoulder.  Renji’s eyes rolled up and he let out a long, low moan as he came hard again, clenching down on Byakuya.  Byakuya growled into Renji’s neck where he still held his teeth in him and came into him, this time, Renji’s body milking him for every bit. Finally, he let go of Renji’s shoulder and lay his head on the middle of Renji’s back, panting slowly.  Byakuya wiped his hand on his pants and then started to thread it through Renji’s hair slowly.

Renji was completely blissed out and couldn’t move even if he’d wanted to.  The world seemed to fade, and he felt Byakuya pick him up and move him to the sofa.  He snuggled into Byakuya’s warmth, because Byakuya had taken off his shirt and jacket and pulled him into him.  They sat like that for a long time, coming down and Byakuya running his hands through Renji’s hair and whispering to him things that Renji didn’t remember.  Finally, Renji leaned his head back and Byakuya captured his lips in a gentle kiss.

“Hey, you okay?  Was I too rough?” he asked, his eyes showing his concern.

“I’m good, ‘Kuya, sore, but good,” Renji said, wrapping his arms around Byakuya’s chest and sighing.

Byakuya kissed the top of his head.  “I think you’re going to have to wear my extra uniform…”

Renji nodded.  “That was an unexpected result.”

Byakuya smiled and tipped Renji’s head up slowly.  “Thank you,” he said, kissing him chastely. 

“Who else can piss you off enough and then manage to let you fuck away a migraine?” Renji said.

“You’re such a fucking brat,” Byakuya said, pulling him into his chest again.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo had lost track of time so long ago.  He had that pink haired guy come and go.  He wasn’t bound to the bed any longer, and he was brought food twice a day.  He supposed he should be glad of that.  He was still worried about what Aizen said.  So far, no one else had come down into the room he was in, but it didn’t mean they wouldn’t.  He had been given what amounted to a hospital gown to wear and nothing else.  He sat on the bed and hugged his knees to his chest and waited.  He wondered how many days had passed.  He was still dizzy, but that pink haired guy said they were taking a lot of blood.  As long as they didn’t take bone marrow again.  He’d screamed himself hoarse it hurt so much, and the guy had given him a local anesthetic.

He looked up as the door opened and a guy he had no idea who he was came in.  He was a huge, tall dark skinned man with a bald head.  He swallowed tightly.

“Who…who are you?  What do you want?” he muttered, staring at his hypnotic looking eyes.

“I came to see you because you’re Grimmjow’s, aren’t you?” he said, his face strangely neutral.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Ichigo said, suddenly scared.  “I don’t…”

“See, Grimmjow used to work for Aizen,” the man said, not moving from where he stood by the door.  “But Grimmjow went and turned on him.  So Grimmjow had to be punished because there’s nothing worse than a traitor, you know,” he said, stepping closer this time.  “So we beat him down.  Then, when his girlfriend came home, made him watch while I gave her the opportunity to have sex with a real man.”  Ichigo blinked, his eyes going wide.  “Guess she killed herself later on, poor thing.  Probably sad that she was stuck with a sad excuse like Grimmjow.”

He moved closer again.  “And now, Grimmjow’s messing with Aizen again. I thought we were pretty clear before, to stay out of Aizen’s business, but no, he’s gotta get involved in you.  So, I came down to show him that everything that belongs to him really belongs to Aizen.”

Ichigo swallowed and shook his head.  “Please, no, no, I don’t…I can’t…”

It didn’t take long for Ichigo to realize that begging wasn’t going to help.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Tesla stood in the doorway to the place.  She glanced at the business card that the bartender had given her under his soda a few hours ago.  The back had a message that this was a safe place. After the incident the last week, she wanted to get away from those people, but she had nowhere safe to go.  She went into the pub, Rokongai was the name.  She had no idea how these people would help her, she was fifteen, surely she’d have to go back to her mother if she demanded it. 

She looked around.  It was so much different than Las Noches.  The colors, the smells.  It felt authentic, not fake like everything at Las Noches.  It didn’t smell of stale alcohol and smoke, either.  There weren’t strippers here, but there was a buxom woman singing on the stage in a hunting voice.  It was an old folk song Tesla’d heard a few times.  She smiled, feeling happy here, surprisingly so.

She straightened her dress and went to the bar.

A dark haired man with a sixty nine tattooed on his face came up and smiled.  “Hey there beautiful, what can I do for you?”

Tesla blushed.  “Um, a guy gave me this,” she said and Shuuhei took it. 

“Go back toward the bathrooms and there’s an office door on the left.  Knock and Shinji will be in there, sweetie,” he said, handing the card back to her.

“Um, thanks…” she said and made her way through the crowded place to knock on the door.

A few seconds later it opened and she was looking at a kind looking blonde man.  “Um, the guy at the bar said come here,” she said hesitantly and handed him the card.

Shinji looked at it, recognizing Grimmjow’s handwriting.  “From Las Noches, come on in, sweetie.”

She swallowed, a little nervous, and went into the large office.  Shinji grabbed a can of coke from the mini fridge and handed to her and led her to sit down on the sofa.  “Grimmjow sent you over to us.  How old are you, love?”

Tesla switched her eye patch unconsciously to the other eye and bit on her lip.  “Fifteen, I don’t know why I came here, I can’t leave home yet, and…”

“You can, this is a youth home.  If you feel unsafe where you are, you can choose to stay with me, I run it,” Shinji said, smiling.  “I offer a place for LGBT youth to come to when they’re kicked out of their homes or leaving bad situations.  If you’re spending your time in Las Noches, you’re in a bad situation.”

Tesla nodded.  “M-my mom is a prostitute, and my father is one of Aizen’s enforcers.  I think he stays because of me, though.”

Shinji arched a brow.  “What’s your name, sweetie?”

“T-Tesla Lindocruz Gilga…” she said, looking up at him.

Shinji blinked for a moment.  “You’re Nnoitra Gilga’s child.”

She nodded.  “Yeah, I heard him and my mom arguing a few times.  She told him to leave if he hated working for Aizen and he said he couldn’t because of me.  Something about an agreement, and if he didn’t do as he was told, Aizen was going to do something.  I don’t know what.  Mom was strung out on drugs a lot, so father would come and try and bring food and clothes to me.”

Shinji nodded, pulling out his cell phone.  “Okay, sweetie.  Do you have a phone?”  He texted Nel that he had a new youth.

Tesla nodded, pulling out her phone.  “Tell him you’re safe, for good.  Just that, then I’m going to deactivate your phone.  We’ll get you a new one, so write down any numbers you think you want.”

Tesla jotted down a few numbers and then called Nnoitra.  He picked up on the second ring, and Tesla put it on speaker phone.

“Father,” she said.

“Tesla, where are you?  I’ve been worried sick!” came Nnoitra’s voice.

“I’m safe, father, okay?” she said nervously.

“Where are you?  Did someone take you?” he asked, and Shinji lost all doubt that the man wasn’t genuine.

“She’s with me, Nnoitra,” Shinji said slowly.  “She’ll be safe from now on.”

There was a long pause.  “She’s with you, Shinji?” he said finally.

“She is.  She doesn’t have to go back,” Shinji answered.

Another pause.  “Okay, take care of her.  I…I don’t know if I can ever see you again, baby, but you listen to Shinji, he’s a good man, and he won’t let you down like I have, okay?”

“What do you mean, Father?” she asked nervously.

“I mean, what I’m going to do, I don’t know if I’ll survive it, but I’m gonna pay Shinji back, the only way I can,” he said, and the line went dead.


	13. Stress Response

Aizen sat in the front of Las Noches watching one of the girls perform for him.  The place was empty other than the black haired bartender who was cleaning and the one stripper on stage.  It was noon, after all, and they were closed.  He sipped hot tea and watched her dance with very little interest. 

“Sir?” came a voice behind him.  He motioned his chemist over.

Szayel sat with his back to the stage and nodded to him.  “What have you found, Granz?” he asked, looking over him at the girl gyrating on stage.

“I have some…unusual results.  I’ve taken blood samples every other day since the subject arrived, and I’ve found something disturbing,” Szayel said, glancing at the paper in front of him.

“Stop stalling, what is it?” Aizen asked, sipping the tea idly as the girl on stage stripped completely naked and began playing with herself.

Szayel had avoided giving these results until he couldn’t avoid it much longer.  It had been two weeks, and another week, he was supposed to do another blood draw.  However, he was confronted with a problem.  He sighed.

“So, as you know, White synthesizes and is released into the bloodstream when the subject is under a severe stress response.  The problem is, the amount of White in the bloodstream seems to be filtered out by the liver over around three to four weeks after the stress response causes synthesis.  So, as of right now, the subject’s blood contains around half of the strength of two weeks ago.  It will keep dropping until the amount of White is nearly nil,” he said nervously.

Aizen looked at him.  “What are you saying, Granz?”

“Another stress response must occur for the synthesis to happen again.  The protein reacts to the mixture of the hormones cortisol and adrenaline and the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine.  When the body is flooded with the response, the protein begins synthesis, which results in the strange change in eye color for some reason I can’t identify.  If the subject’s body doesn’t get to the point to cause the changes in the eyes, no synthesis occurs,” he said, sighing.

“You’re saying he has to be traumatized once a month in order to continue production at the rate of two hundred per,” Aizen commented calmly.

Szayel nodded.  “Ah, yes, it would seem so.”

Aizen looked at the stripper again who was back to writhing on the pole.  “How long before he becomes useless and his mind breaks if we go forward with this?”

Szayel blinked.  “Traumatizing him to that degree every month?  I have no idea, his mind might break in one month, or ten years, I don’t know.”

Aizen nodded.  “We need an alternative, then.  I can’t afford to have him lose the ability to synthesize White.  See if the same reaction can be made happen through artificial means via injection.”

Szayel nodded and started to walk away, but Aizen grabbed his wrist.

“Do you think that is he were to have a child, the child would also acquire the ability to synthesize White?” Aizen said slowly.

Szayel shook his head.  “It passed from his mother, so I am unsure if he can pass it on further.  It might only be viable in a male heir.”

Aizen nodded slowly.  “I think it might be worth trying.  Find an appropriately strong match among the whores.  We’ll try one or two and see if it takes.  There should be at least one of the bitches fertile at the moment.”

Szayel nodded, and swallowed hard, escaping the room as quickly as he could.  Aizen’s thinking made him queasy most of the time.  If it hadn’t been for his idiot brother getting mixed up with him, he wouldn’t even be here.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Byakuya and Renji went to the Rukongai to see the group, mostly because they had completed the assessment on the drug, and they needed to let the others know what was happening.  Byakuya wasn’t looking forward to what he was going to tell them.  It had taken several days to confirm it, and he was no waiting for a judge to again look over the evidence for a raid at Las Noches.  It was frustrating, but Byakuya knew that the reason was simply because Aizen had bought off several officials.  The place was busy, but they weren’t meeting here.  They went and knocked on the door to Shinji’s office.

“Come on through, over to the Dangai, got the windows all shuttered down.  The others are waiting for you,” Shinji said as he locked the door behind him. 

The first thing Byakuya noticed was that Grimmjow was sitting half asleep in his seat.  No doubt he was exhausted from keeping up with the schedule at Las Noches and then trying to ensure he wasn’t tailed when he left.  Renji had told him he’d dyed his hair so he didn’t have to keep up with the wash once he asked for more hours.  Yumichika was gone, at Las Noches, and so were Kensei and Loly.  He saw that Kyōraku was there with his family, and was looking forward to find out what he’d seen when he went in as a customer.  Everyone else was there that lived upstairs along with a new girl in a Lolita looking dress.  She looked nervous, and seemed to stay close to Hiyori and Rose.

Shinji stood up and clapped, shocking Grimmjow into full wakefulness.  Nel, sitting beside him, stifled a laugh at him when he nearly fell off the chair.  Ichigo’s old friends had also come at Shinji’s request, but they had gathered together away from the others.

“Okay, so first things first.  Shunsui, Grimmjow, and anyone else who has been listening for information, we want to hear from you.  Then I’ll introduce Tesla and explain why she’s here.  Then I know Byakuya has the analysis on the drug that Grimmjow managed to acquire.  I know that some of you have already heard of it hitting the street.  Shunsui?” he said, looking at the man who was leaning back in the chair staring at the ceiling.

“I overheard discussion of the drug, this White, how it was an incredible high. I noticed though that those that were trying to get more already, even just days after ingesting it, starting to show severe addiction signs, and those that couldn’t afford it were already showing withdrawal symptoms.  Whatever it is, it is very potent and addictive.  I did overhear one of the dancers mention something about being asked to get pregnant for some reason.  I couldn’t hear much more,” he said, nodding.

Nanao glared at him.  “Are you sure that’s not because you were staring at strippers more than listening?”

Shunsui put his hand over his heart.  “You wound me, my love!”

She rolled her eyes dramatically and Jushiro patted Shunsui on the back.

“Okay,” Shinji said, glancing at Grimmjow.  “Grimmjow, you’ve been there the most of anyone.  What have you heard?”

Grimmjow cleared his throat.  “Um, surprisingly little.  I know that White is somehow related to Ichigo, and I’m beginning to think when Aizen mentions the subject he’s referring to Ichigo.  No one seems to know anything about other people that stay in the building.  I know that the chemist lives there, but no one else will confirm that fact, and he himself is an enigma.  He comes and speaks to Aizen then leaves as quickly.”

Byakuya stepped forward and nodded at Shinji.  “If I may, I wanted to confirm the theory that the drug is related to Ichigo.  I believe we know why he was kidnapped.”

Everyone glanced at each other and back to Byakuya.  Byakuya continued.  “We analyzed the drug.  It is derived from Ichigo’s blood, specifically his red blood cells.  We’re not sure yet how or why, but his DNA is intact and a one hundred percent match.  Our laboratory head believes that the substance he found attached to the DNA sequence was most likely injected into Ichigo’s mother when she worked for Aizen as a lab assistant.  It passed to Ichigo in utero, and we believe it only passed to him because it was carried on the x chromosome, which of course, his sisters inherited a second x, masking the protein.  Kurosuchi believes that the reason it is limited to two hundred doses is because the most they can take each month without harming him too much is a pint.  And that is even more than is healthy.  Kurosuchi says he will likely be anemic, weak, and possibly susceptible to other infections.”

Grimmjow sat silent for a while.  “They’re literally making drugs out of his blood.”

Byakuya sighed.  “It would seem that way.”

A silence descended for a long moment until Shinji moved forward.  “Okay before any more discussion, I’d like to introduce you to someone,” he said, taking Tesla’s hand and bringing her forward.  “And before I explain who she is, she’s one of my kids now, and there will be no arguments.”

There was murmured ascent, and Grimmjow of course, knew already.  He’d given her the card for Shinji after all.  “This is Tesla Lindocruz Gilga.  She’s the fifteen year old trans daughter of Nnoitra Gilga.”

No one could believe what they were hearing, and it was silent again.  Tesla tried to pull away from Shinji but Shinji held her hand despite that.  “Now, I want you all to welcome her here.  She’s adjusting to what’s happening, and we’ve already enacted the paperwork to make sure she doesn’t have to return to that hell hole again.  It is my belief that the reason that Nnoitra remained with Aizen was because of Tesla’s safety.”

“That doesn’t excuse what he did,” Nel said, frowning.

Shinji shook his head. “No, but I have reason to believe he may be trying to do something about Ichigo’s situation now that Tesla is safe.”

Byakuya spoke up.  “We’ve brought in several undercover operatives in the last week for their safety.  Be on a close look out for any retaliation to this.  Aizen is also unaware of two other plants we have deep within his organization.  However, we cannot pull them out until the last minute.  Whatever you do, any of you, do not ingest this drug,” he said.  “It may prove toxic after several doses as the protein builds up in the brain.  One dose is enough to start near addiction.  Now, if that’s all from us, Shinji, I’m debriefing two undercovers that came in earlier today.”

Shinji nodded.  “Thanks, Byakuya.”

“Everyone, safety is priority.  If you think for a moment you’ve been made, leave,” Shinji said and waved at Nel and Grimmjow to come with him back to his office.  He led Tesla with him and the four went inside.  A few of the others went back to their duties, and Shusui’s family sat at the table for a long moment before they headed across to the Rukongai.  It was still early, so there weren’t many people in there yet.

Inside Shinji’s office he sat down at the desk and a very nervous Tesla stood beside him.  He patted her on the back.  “Don’t worry, the person you know as Hinto from Las Noches isn’t much like our Grimmjow.  Now, Tesla, Nel here is a Children’s Service Worker, she’s the one that has made the arrangements so you can stay here and not have to go back to your mother at Las Noches.”

Tesla seemed to relax a little and nodded.  “What I’m calling you in for is so you can tell us if you know anything about Ichigo.”

Tesla frowned and shook her head.  “I don’t think I do, I’ve never heard the name.”

Grimmjow nodded.  “What about ‘the subject’ or something like that?”

Tesla nodded.  “Yeah, Tesla and Szay are always talking about that.  They do a lot of work on drugs, so I didn’t think anything about it until just now.  So the subject is the guy you’re looking for.”

Grimmjow nodded.  “Yeah.”

“My father did something bad to him, didn’t he?” she said, quietly looking up at them.

Grimmjow and Shinji exchanged a glance.  “Why do you say that?”

“Well, Father had been acting oddly the last few weeks.  When I’d visit him and his boyfriend, Ulquie…” she started.

“Wait, what?” Nel said.  “Nnoitra and Ulquiorra…are together?  He was just in here hitting on my girlfriend not too long ago.”

“Father is bi, and so is Ulquie.  They often invite others into their relations, usually women.  But they have been together as long as I can remember, though not even Aizen knows about it.  Father said he’d get in trouble if Aizen knew that he and Ulquie were together as more than just roommates or work partners.  So Father talks a lot about being with other people, but really, he rarely follows through.  He’s been in love with Ulquie for far too long,” Tesla provided, glancing between them for a minute before switching her eye patch to the other eye for a while.

Shinji nodded.  “I think that explains a few things.”

Grimmjow looked at him. “Like how they raped Ichigo?”

Tesla winced and bit her lip.  “It…it wouldn’t be the first time Father’s had to do that,” she said quietly.

Again, everyone looked at her.  She glanced at her hands.  “You see, Father…he was always known as that guy that was beyond perverse and disgusting on many levels.  Then…then when he got my mother pregnant, things changed, he realized that what he was doing had repercussions, but it was too late.  Aizen had him, and me.  Father was the one Aizen often used to ‘service’ both women and men because of his sexual appetite.  Ulquie was supposed to be Father’s handler.  A very sexless and emotionless person to counter Father’s insatiable sexual appetite that he no longer had.  However, Father was stuck because Aizen trusted him to be able to do these things, to sleep with women as instructed, or even with men, and if degradation was required, he would send Father, because he believed him to have no morals when it came to forcing himself on another.”  Tesla sighed and ran her hand over her head slowly.  “It changed more the older I got, and sometimes when he’d bring us food, he’d be so upset and he didn’t want to tell me, I was a kid, but my mother is a prostitute, I knew far more than most my age did.  So I…I listened to him.”

Shinji got up and steered Tesla to the couch.  “He hated it.  He said he didn’t want to sleep with anyone else unless Ulquie and him agreed on it.  He didn’t like being used as an attack dog.  But when I was born, Aizen had him make an agreement.  In exchange for my safety in the Las Noches apartments, Nnoitra would work for him.  Otherwise, he said he would have me sold into the human trafficking division.  I told him to just leave, that I’d be fine, but especially when I started to transition,” she paused and picked at the lace petticoats.  “He knew I was in danger.  So he was excited when he got assigned to that vile bitch as he called her.”

“Arisawa Tatsuki?  Called her Tats?” Grimmjow said, watching Tesla closely.

“I don’t know her name, ‘vile bitch’ was what Father called her.  He hated her.  He said that even so, it was nice that he only had to sleep with one other person besides Ulquie when she wanted him to, or when she wanted Ulquie to do it with her.  He said she was easy, though, if she got her sex and her drugs, she was fine, but then, he changed a few weeks ago and wouldn’t talk about what was bothering him.  He hadn’t been ordered to violate someone in more than three years.  He’d thought those days were over,” Tesla said, wringing her hands slightly.  She looked up.  “He’s not a good man, don’t get me wrong, he never pretended to be.  He wanted to get me out, but he couldn’t.  He was, though, a good enough Father.  He did his best.”

Shinji sighed and shook his head.  “That’s enough for now, Tesla, honey, let’s get upstairs to bed, you want to go over to the Rukongai?  I think Shunsui and his group headed over there.”

Grimmjow nodded and stood with Nel and headed out to the pub.  It wasn’t very busy and he noted Shusui and Jushiro snuggled up with each other and Nanao was at the bar, but he didn’t see their kid anywhere.  He went over and knocked on the table, getting a yelp out of the white haired man and a chuckle out of his brunette partner.

“Don’t turn his hair even whiter, he’s still got black eyebrows and bush,” Shunsui said with a grin.   Jushiro put his rapidly reddening face on the table.  Suddenly he sat up. 

“Shunsui, where’d Wonderweiss go?” he asked, sliding out of Shusui’s lose grip on his waist.

“He’s here somewhere,” Shunsui said with a yawn.

Grimmjow watched from the end of the table as Jushiro caught sight of Wonderweiss standing on the main stage.  Jushiro asked him to come down to the table and got him situated with his tablet once more.  He ruffled his blond hair thoughtfully.  Nel smiled and then glanced at her brother.  “Wonderweiss was one of my placements, brother.”

“I was wondering if he was Nanao’s child or one of you two by another partner,” Grimmjow asked, glancing at him, noting no real resemblance to any of the trio.

Nel shook her head.  “No, he was in a very rough situation.  It was like Ichigo’s, in that it took a long time to prove anything, and since he’s autistic, communication with him was difficult.  He wasn’t physically abused, but we suspected his two elder siblings of abuse as well, but by the point we retrieved Wonderweiss they were adults.  The father was also a victim of the emotional and physical abuse.”

“How on earth did you find out what was going on?” Grimmjow asked.

“It was by chance, really.  He got out the back door one day after another yelling session at his father, and he left.  A truancy officer found him in a park almost a full hour away from his home, playing with a dragonfly.  The officer knew that something was wrong because he’d obviously walked in pajamas and barefoot a long way, and couldn’t communicate with him.  He took him to the station, and they figured out he could read and write.  So he gave them his number.  His mother said she didn’t care, he was a failure, after all, and they could just keep him.  That’s when they called me,” Nel said, smiling as Nanao interacted with Wonderweiss on the tablet.

“I went out there, and realized that there was a lot going on with that woman.  She was a malignant narcissist, and very much prone to delusions of grandeur.  Her entire house had to be perfect, and she would fly into rages over the smallest thing out of place.  Forks in the right place, clothing done perfectly, and if it wasn’t, there was hell to pay.  Once I got on the case, the older kids got the courage to leave, said they stayed because Wonderweiss would have been alone if they left, and the husband divorced her.  He ended up getting a restraining order against her.  She was arrested for neglect and abuse, mostly because she would lock Wonderweiss in the attic so he wasn’t seen by guests and the older siblings cared for him instead of her.  We didn’t prosecute because she was institutionalized for her severe mental health issues,” Nel said, grabbing a beer when Shuuhei brought a few over on a tray for them.

“Sounds like a piece of work,” Grimmjow said, taking one of the beers as well.

“Next Marta Stewart, she told me.  Too bad everything about her was fake.  I interviewed family friends, and all of them feared her.  She was just very unstable.  I don’t remember how long her actual psychiatric diagnosis was, but it read like a book,” Nel said, shaking her.  “And poor Wonderweiss, it has taken him forever to get used to Nanao because he’s frightened of women in authority.  I mean, the things he saw, he would never tell us everything, but he did tell the judge toward the end that she’d broken the neighbor’s dog’s neck because it ‘messed up her roses’.”

“That’s fucked up,” Grimmjow said, shaking his head and watching as Wonderweiss smiled at Nanao.

Nel nodded.  “He’s come a long way.”

Grimmjow sighed, and excused himself.  He needed sleep again.  He was on at noon at Las Noches the next day.  He made his way into the dark basement and didn’t bother with the lights.  He felt like a blind man down here because it hurt too much to look at the place where Ichigo had started putting it together how he wanted it.  The little things he had done to change the place made Grimmjow’s heart hurt so much.  He fell into the couch again and fell into a restless sleep almost immediately filled with dreams of falling sakura blossoms he just couldn’t catch no matter how hard he tried.  They’d turn to dust when he caught them.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

“Mah, mah, what’s going on down here?  I hear secretive talk about rescuing someone?” came a voice above Nnoitra and Ulquiorra. 

Both men looked up from where they were kneeling between the beer kegs.  Usually, the storeroom was a safe place to talk, safer than their room even, but they’d been caught by Aizen’s right hand man, Gin Ichimaru.  They were dead, and they both knew it, if Gin went to Aizen.

“Nothing, Gin, don’t worry about it,” Nnoitra said through his wired jaw and moved to go up the stairs.

Gin came down them, though, blocking the exit to the bar upstairs.  “Nah, that’s not what I heard.  You two are planning on getting Aizen’s pet project out of here.  How do you think he’d react to finding that out?  Two of his trusted people, in the bar stock room, hashing out plans to knock out guards, somehow carry a person who mostly likely can’t walk due to the blood draws he’s been subject to as well as the drug cocktail that Szayel is administering tomorrow, and manage to get away without dying.”

Nnoitra took a defensive stance and grabbed a wine bottle off the shelf and held it in front of him.  “Don’t, Gin.  I’ve got nothing to lose anymore, and I won’t let you tell him.”

Ulquiorra stood very still beside him, glancing between the two of them.  Gin smirked.  “Mah, I can’t let you do what it is you’re planning.”  Nnoitra got ready to use the bottle on Gin. 

“You’ll completely sabotage the plans I already have in place to get the boy out,” Gin said, turning his brilliant blue gaze on both of them.  The bottle crashed to the ground.


	14. Unexpected Allies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back with this one.
> 
> Expect eventual edits and then a nice pretty PDF will be available for download to save on your personal harddrives. I've got some stuff to add to the early chapters. 
> 
> :)

It took more than a few minutes for Nnoitra to shake off the shock that came with what Gin had just said.  Gin was Aizen’s closest friend and associate.  Gin was the one person Aizen trusted as much as himself.  Gin had been with Aizen since Aizen was a child.  Gin was perhaps the one thing Aizen did not doubt in the least.

“What?” was all he could finally muster at the grinning man in front of him.

“I said, if you go through with this ill thought out and quite childish plan, you will disturb plans I have had in place for a very long time.  Now obviously, since I’ve come to you, I’ll have to involve you in the plan, that is if you can keep your mouths shut for the next few days until everything falls into place,” he said, smiling at them.

“How?  You came here with Aizen?” Ulquiorra whispered, still unable to believe what he was seeing and hearing.

Gin smirked again.  “That is my own tale, and I don’t wish to tell it yet, for now, do nothing, say nothing, and I will reach out to you when it is time. Do whatever Aizen tells you to do without argument.  We are moving in a few days’ time.”

“We?” Nnoitra asked.

“We.  Now, be good boys,” Gin said and swept up the stairs.

The two men watched in complete amazement at what they had just experienced.  Gin was working against Aizen?  For how long?  When?  They slowly headed back up the stairs and went to their apartment up in the tower.  After a long moment they both stared across at each other.  Ulquiorra finally nodded. 

“So we wait,” he said softly.

Nnoitra nodded.  “I wish I knew for what…”

Up several floors, Gin made his way to his own room.  He felt that it was going to be time to enact things when Aizen brought Ichigo in.  He knew then, as now, that things had to be timed perfectly or the entire plan would fall apart.  He sighed as he grabbed a beer out of his cooler and sat down on the large recliner and stared up at the ceiling for a long moment.

He’d been a kid when he met Aizen.  Aizen was a few years older than he was, but he’d been alone, on the streets, with his best friend Rangiku.  They were kids, and they loved each other like brother and sister, like anyone on the streets did.  Then he met Aizen, and Aizen helped them get off the streets to safety.  Rangiku ended up getting involved in some of the drugs, and one night when he found her in bed with a john, he had yanked her up, screamed at her and called her a slut, a whore, and told her to get out and never come back.  She had, and that night, Gin cried more than he’d ever cried before.

He kept an eye on her, made sure no one would sell her drugs, and now she worked at the Rukongai now and then.  He was glad of that.  She was safe there.  He knew, though, that until Aizen was gone from power, she wouldn’t be safe, not completely.  There were too many dangers in it that had to be taken care of.  Now, now he had the chance to move because he was vulnerable when he thought himself the safest. 

He didn’t know when it had all gone wrong. If it could be called going wrong. He felt like he had to make up for the horrible things he’d done in his life. Granted, he’d committed far worse sins than calling his sister a whore. He sighed, tipping the beer back and staring at the ceiling. He wished he could move faster, but as it was, he was taking chances on the boy’s life. He checked the clock after what felt like an eternity and watched it flip over to four am. He sighed and got up to walk to the loading docks down at the warehouse. He stood at the side and looked at the moon.

“Everything is in place,” a voice came from the shadows.

“Good. I’m bringing two with me. Nnoitra and Ulquiorra were trying to plan on getting the boy out on their own. I told them they had to stop.”

“How long do we have?” the voice asked.

Gin sighed and stared at the sky. “I can’t guarantee anything, my dear. Szayel is injecting the cocktail day after tomorrow to incite the reaction he needs. He might not survive it. I can’t get to him until after the procedure. Security is obsessive until then. Szayel is under scrutiny and unable to aid me.”

“Three days?”

“Three days. I’ll contact you if things go badly before then. They may, and if they do, I am sorry,” Gin said and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You will do what you can. There are many in place to help you in Las Noches. Take a good look at the new hires and new frequent customers. You will find them easily enough.”

“I know that the bartender is Grimmjow already,” he said with a sigh. Gin had no idea how Aizen had not realized that it was Grimmjow. It was frustratingly obvious he had dyed his hair and was wearing contacts. “Oh, there is one other thing. Aizen plans to try to impregnate some of the sex workers.”

“Why?”

“He believes that White may be able to pass to male offspring. He intends to begin tomorrow.”

Gin didn’t hear anything but he knew she was gone. He sighed. He had no idea how he was going to do what needed to be done in three days. He would, though. Everything depended on this. For years, he’d wanted to find the one piece of leverage they needed over Aizen. This, human experimentation and torture…that was good. Not only that, he had other evidence. He rubbed the hard place in his forearm. Szayel had put the chip with the information in a few days ago. He was already ready to get it out of his arm. He had to be sure he could get it out. Everything needed to nail Aizen to the wall was on that microchip.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo’s first thought was that he hurt everywhere. His second was that he was in no way able to get up from the bed he was on. He still felt weak. He shivered as he pulled covers over him again. He flinched when the door opened and he saw that it was Aizen. He stared at him and wondered what fresh hell this would be.

“Ah, my good little drug factory,” he said with a smile. “How are you?”

Ichigo just stared at him without speaking. Aizen sighed. “Well, not talkative, huh? Well, you don’t have to be. Szayel, please inject him, and I’ll send in the first subject,” he said and turned and left the small room.

Ichigo looked up confused as Szayel came in and injected him with something. He was so weak he couldn’t really react to it. “What…?” he managed.

Szayel bit his lip. “Sorry…” he whispered as he turned and left, shutting the door.

Ichigo didn’t feel much different at first. Then his heart rate went up and he felt a sudden, and completely out of place, rush of blood to his lower regions. He dug both fists into the sheets beside him and felt completely unable to control the fact that he was suddenly in a quite embarrassing state. He put his hands over his crotch and swallowed thickly. What the hell…

He looked up and the door opened again. Aizen smiled at his state. “Well, it did work, now,” he said and looked at someone behind him. “Girls, treat him well. He should be able to ejaculate multiple times after that dose. Enjoy yourselves.”

Ichigo’s eyes went wide as three women came into the room with him. All of them were wearing robes and to his shock, one of them dropped their robe to the floor. She was naked underneath.

“What…what are you doing?” he gasped, trying desperately to control the raging erection he had.

“We’re supposed to get pregnant, sweetie,” the first one said as she crawled up on the bed. Ichigo stared at her. She was pretty, and had wavy dyed purple hair and nice smile.

“I…I don’t…I…I…” he stammered as she ripped the sheet away from him.

“Hmm, you are so cute, blushing and everything,” she said and grabbed his cock in her hand.

“I’m gay!” he said suddenly, as though that was going to deter them.

“Maybe you just haven’t had the right pussy, sweetie,” she muttered as she stroked him thoughtfully. “I’m a professional, so don’t worry. Besides, the amount I’ll get paid will be worth nine months off my game. Name’s Cirucci, sweetie. Tell me, what do you like for foreplay? Want me to give you a little oral first? Or just get to it?”

“I don’t want to do this,” he said as he tried to push her away, but he was weaker than he expected as she continued to stroke him and grin. “Please, stop…”

“I don’t know about this,” one of the other two said, a girl long pigtails said from behind her.

He barely registered that they were turquoise colored. She looked familiar but Ichigo didn’t have time to think about it as the first one crawled over him. She stroked him with a grin and then seated herself down on him. Ichigo’s eyes squeezed shut because he couldn’t stop his body from reacting to it.

“Just go with it, sweetie,” she purred at him as she began working herself on him. He turned away from her and actually though that this might be worse than what had happened to him already.

“Cirucci,” the girl with turquoise hair said from behind her. “I don’t know about this…”

“What is there to know?” the third girl said. Ichigo hadn’t paid her much attention, but she had dark green hair. “Boss said to have him fuck us and hope we get pregnant.”

“But this isn’t right, Nozomi,” she responded as she watched Cirucci and the complete mortification on his face. “He doesn’t want this. This is rape…” she said glancing between them.

“Pfft,” Cirucci muttered. “Women can’t rape a man, what is wrong with you?” she said as she moaned a bit. “Besides, he’s nice and good sized. Not too big, not too small. Might have to come back and see him again…”

Ichigo was trying his best to forget what was happening outside him. He felt her and he was disgusted by it. It wasn’t that he hadn’t slept with Tatsuki many times, but this was different. He felt the building sensation and he just wanted to stop it from happening. Whatever the pink haired doctor gave him, though, made that impossible as she forced him closer to the edge. When she hit her orgasm, though, Ichigo knew he wasn’t going to hold out. As the contractions of her body squeezed him, he couldn’t stop it. He gasped in shock as he went over suddenly. She smiled as she moved off of him.

“Hmm, a good little fuck, for such a young one,” she muttered as she grabbed her robe and left.

Nozomi moved up onto the bed. “So, how quickly can you come back? I have work to do. I need to get this done. I have no time to wait all day.”

Ichigo felt more disgusted than he ever had as she went down on him. It didn’t take but a moment before he was growing hard under her mouth. He knew that she had to be one of the sex workers here. She was just too good at this to be anything else. Still, he let out a pent up sob as she mounted him. She paused as she looked down at him. She shook her head and went on and he found it taking much longer this time. He just wanted her off of him. He didn’t want this at all…

When she finally went over, and managed to work him into an orgasm he wrapped both hands over his face. He just wanted to crawl into a whole and die. He truly didn’t know what to do. He’d been used every way that a person could be used and he didn’t think he could ever be okay again. The second one left he tried to keep from sobbing into his arms.

He felt the last one touch him and he tried to turn away but he was so tired. He felt the covers being pulled over him and he felt her touch his hair. He moved his hands and looked at her and realized why she was so familiar. It was Nel’s girlfriend, Loly. Her hair was dyed and she was looking at him sadly.

He stared at her for a moment before he burst into tears again. She moved and sat beside him. She held him in her arms for a long time. She rocked him and shushed him. She leaned as close as she could and whispered in his ear.

“Don’t give up,” she whispered. “We’re here. We’re going to get you out. I promise.”

Ichigo looked at her and swallowed a ball in his throat. “Will it matter?” he asked.

She smiled. “Yeah, Grimm is out of his mind worried, just hang on.”

“Why would he want me now…” he said, looking at her. “It’s almost been a month…they…they…”

“Shush, don’t. Don’t think about it. He loves you. I promise that, more than anything in this world. I volunteered for this because I wanted to see if it was you. I thought it might be when he asked for some of us to be surrogates, as he put it,” she whispered to him. She had no idea if the room was bugged or under video…but as she looked up she realized there was a video. “Ichigo, they’re watching this. I…If I don’t do what he sent me to do…”

Ichigo looked at her and swallowed hard. “Okay, you can,” he whispered to her. “It’s okay.”

“You’re sure?” she asked, moving to slide under the covers. “I can pretend like we’re doing it…”

“But they’ll know,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut. “And I hurt…whatever he gave me, it won’t go away…”

Loly nodded, reaching under the sheet to find that he was obviously painfully hard. “Okay, don’t worry about me getting pregnant, I can’t.”

“What?” Ichigo asked as he bit back a moan at her touch.

“I had those parts removed when I was younger. I had bad cysts,” she said as she looked at him. “Look, are you sure about his, I don’t want to…”

“If you don’t…you’ll get caught…” he said.

She knew he was right. She had been willing to take the chance if he didn’t want her to really do it with him. It wasn’t that she hadn’t had sex with men, she had, it was that he didn’t want to have sex with her. And to be honest, she would have done anything for him, even if it meant doing something she swore she’d never do again. Ichigo was important to Grimmjow and Nel. So she would do what she had to do to get him back to Grimmjow’s arms. No matter what it was.

“Okay, I’m going on, I’ll try to go long enough that those drugs wear off,” she said quietly. “I don’t think he’ll send anyone else, but I don’t want to chance it,” she said as she straddled him. He looked at her with eyes that spoke more than words and he gave a slight nod.

She nodded in return and slid down onto him. She couldn’t help the slight moan that escaped her. It had been a while since she’d had a male partner. She swallowed and began to move on him. He was definitely not lacking in equipment, she thought. Her first thought when it came to male couples was that the ones that took bottom were small. She had no idea why she thought that. She knew for sure that Grimmjow was a top. Nel was too. So she’d, wrongly, assumed that Ichigo was less than endowed. She really had to get those assumptions out of her head. She should know better considering she had seen Renji’s dick on more than one occasion when she’d walked in on him being fucked over a table in the back or against the wall by Byakuya.

She actually was surprised that she was going to get off on this. She’d just figured if she did fuck him, that she’d get him off so she could get done. But something about what she was thinking made her feel like she was doing something right for a change. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her. He grabbed her and she felt the complete desperation in his grip.

It was becoming something else entirely. It wasn’t just sex. They were comforting each other in a way that was their only option. She hadn’t thought about it like that before, but it was. It wasn’t that they were doing it for the release, and they’d been forced in it for the sake of their lives. But it was changing as they lay there entwined in each other. It was comfort, and only that.

She whispered into his ear as she clung to his body. “Close your eyes, think about Grimmy, just imagine him, and I’ll think about my Nel, okay?” she said softly.

Ichigo nodded and he felt tears again, only this time, there was something else there. Something that wasn’t sadness or embarrassment. He was happy because they hadn’t forgotten him. Grimmjow hadn’t abandoned him. He was out there and he wanted him still. The thought alone was almost enough to send him over. He felt Loly moving faster on him and he gasped as she let out a long, low moan. It was Nel’s name, he realized as he arched under her and saw Grimmjow’s face in front of him.

Loly held him tighter then and he started to sob into her chest as she ran her hands over his head. She was waiting, to see if he was going to still be under the effects of the drug. Thankfully, it seemed to have worn off. She slid down beside him for a moment and they held each other. He cried harder and she was almost afraid that he was going to make himself sick. He managed to get himself under control and looked at her.

“Thank you…” he said.

She sighed. “Nel is gonna kill me,” she muttered as she swung her legs over and grabbed her robe. “So’s Grimm,” she said with a wink.

Ichigo grabbed the sheets when she was gone and curled in on himself. Grimmjow as out there. He wasn’t leaving him. He wasn’t. He just hoped that he wasn’t mad about this…he didn’t think he could take that. He just wanted to see him again, that was all.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Tosen paid the cab driver and used his cane to walk into the place. The night before, there had been a fight at Las Noches, and the beautiful grand piano had been the casualty. It was unfortunate, but one of the bartenders had said that he knew a place where he could pay. He’d given him a card for the cabbie. So tonight, here he was. He headed into the place and he heard someone singing. He tilted his head and smiled. Blues, he thought to himself. And her voice was beautiful.

“Hey there, sweetie,” came a voice near him. He turned toward it. “Can I help you find a spot to sit?”

“Actually, I was wondering if I could play the piano,” he said to the woman that had spoken to him.

“Oh, a pianist, cool,” she said and took Tōsen’s hand in hers. “I’m Franceska,” she said as she led him to a bench. “Work security here,” she said as he slid onto the bench. He ran his hands over the keys and the wooden top.

He smiled and began to play along with the woman that was singing. He heard her pause and then continue as he played with the recording she was singing to. Franceska smiled and spoke again.

“You’re good…” she said from behind him.

The woman singing ended the song then he sensed someone that sat down beside him. “Hello,” he said and turned their direction.

“You play beautifully,” the person said and he knew it was the woman that had been singing.

“And you sing beautifully,” he said with a smile. He held his hand out toward her. “I’m Kaname Tōsen.”

“Rangiku Matsumoto,” she said with a smile. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before. And I definitely haven’t heard you play, I’d remember that.”

“I used to play at Las Noches, they had a beautiful grand piano. But there was a brawl and some inconsiderate clod ended up destroying it. A shame,” he said as he played a random tune on the keys.

He felt her pat his back. “Well, no such things happen here, come on, want to be my back up? Sounds like you play by ear. I’m in a blues mood tonight. Things around here have been sort of depressing lately.”

Tōsen frowned. “Why’s that?”

“Oh, one of our people’s in trouble, and everyone’s feeling it because he was a good person, you know? The type that you like and want to see be happy,” she said with a sigh.

“I know the kind,” Tōsen said as he smiled at her.

“I’ll start up, see if you know it…” she said as she went back to the stage and started another blues number.

Tōsen had no problems playing along. It was nice, actually, and before he knew it, a tip jar that someone had put on the piano was full.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Grimmjow sat dumbfounded on the couch in Shinji’s office and stared at Loly. She had turned slightly red as she explained what had happened. Nel was looking at her with a look that she was unsure of.

“Look, I had to find out if it was him,” she said, looking nervously between Grimmjow and Nel. “And I know, Nel, I said I wasn’t gonna ever sleep with a guy again, but I had to. If Aizen thought for a minute I wasn’t going to do what I said I would…he had the room recorded, and we didn’t have a choice. And he’d given him something,” she said, looking away from them. “I hope you don’t hate me for it. I…he needed something so much and I just held him for a long time and let him cry…and…”

Nel moved over to her and she looked up at her. Nel sighed and wrapped her arms around her, hugging her close. “Oh, my love…” Nel whispered. “I don’t hate you. Not at all.”

Grimmjow nodded, reaching up to wipe a tear from his eye. “No…I don’t…either. I just…I can’t believe he would do this. Why?”

Loly pulled out of Nel’s arms. “Szayel came around and said he needed a few girls to volunteer to get pregnant. He said that whoever did it would be taken care of and they wouldn’t need to worry about the baby.” She ran a hand over her head and sighed. “I just…when he said it…I had to know. I had been talking to the other girls, and none of them had ever heard of something like this happening. One of them had said something about she thought it was the boy Aizen had downstairs.”

Nel nodded. “He must be trying to see if Ichigo’s genetic traits will pass on to offspring. Seeing if he can make a continual supply of the stuff he’s synthesizing out of his blood.”

Grimmjow stood up and Shinji, who had been sitting at his desk and watching quietly, winced as he punched one of the metal cabinets.

“Grimmy, you are going to break your hand,” he said quietly. “We know he’s safe. That’s something.”

“But he’s…how…” Grimmjow said and squeezed his eyes shut.

“He was worried you…you wouldn’t want him now,” Loly said.

Grimmjow turned and stared at her. “He what?”

“He said…he just didn’t know why anyone would want him after he’d been used like this…I think it might have been worse for him, having those two do it…” she said and looked away from him. “He really thought you’d left him, and I told him it wasn’t true.”

Grimmjow nodded slowly. “Thank you for that. I don’t…I don’t know if I can go back, Shinji,” he said, looking at him. “Knowing he’s there, and I can’t…”

“Two days,” came a voice from the doorway. Grimmjow turned. He hadn’t noticed it opened. Byakuya and Renji were standing there with a petite woman with black hair. “Two days until we’re pulling the operation on Aizen. Our operatives inside are in place,” the woman said as she looked between those in the room.

“Who are you?” Grimmjow asked with a deep frown.

“Suì-Fēng. I’m head of the covert and undercover operations divisions. We’ve been inside Aizen’s operations for a long time, and we’re pulling our people out. We have enough to put him away and then some, and we can’t let Ichigo stay there. The drug he’s distilling from him is far too dangerous to allow any more doses to hit the street,” she said matter of factly.

Grimmjow stared at her. “You’re worried about the drug? What about him?”

She looked at him. “Well, either way, you get him out of there. Does it matter that my primary concern in stopping the drug flow?”

“Yes,” Grimmjow said and glared at her. “Yes, it does. You’re more concerned with what he’s used for than what he is, and that’s wrong. He’s already been abused, and now apparently, Aizen’s now using him to get some of the girls there pregnant.”

Byakuya looked at Loly. “He is?”

Loly nodded. “You’ll have the report tomorrow. Including the details of my involvement…” she muttered.

“What does that mean?” Renji asked with a frown. “Wait, you mean, he’s making him fuck chicks?”

“More like he’s giving him a drug to get him hard and then they’re raping him,” Loly muttered and looked away.

Renji blinked in utter confusion. “But…how…if he…that’s fucking disgusting!” he exclaimed.

All three women in the room turned to glare at him. “No, you don’t understand,” Renji said shaking his head. “When a guy…when we…” he sighed.  “Look, when you make the choice to take the bottom as a guy, it changes things. I can’t explain it. It…there’s no drive to fuck someone like there was if you’ve fucked women before. It’s not the same anymore. Everything is centered around…fuck, this is weird.”

Renji sighed and turned away. “I just…I can’t think of something worse, okay?”

Nel came over and hugged him. “I know, Renji. I know.”

“I’m just so mad about this!” he exclaimed and ran a hand over his head. “I can’t…I can’t even…”

Byakuya moved this time and grabbed Renji into a hug. “Hey, don’t, okay?” Byakuya said as he stroked his back. “I know you care about him. You got to be friends really quick, and I get that, okay? I know.”

Grimmjow looked at Byakuya in shock. He’d never seen the man act like this. Byakuya sighed and kissed Renji’s neck gently. “We’re getting him back, and we’re going to make them pay for what they’ve done. You know that, brat,” he muttered as he held him tightly.

Renji collected himself and nodded in Byakuya’s grip. “Okay, I’m okay,” he said finally and stood back up, but he crossed his arms and stared at the ground.

“We’re going to put an end to this,” Shinji said as he stood up. “We’re going to bring his ass down. For everything he’s done. Once and for all. He’s not going to hurt anyone again. And we’re going to bring Ichigo home. And when we do, we’re going to help him get through this. All of us. He’s part of our family here, and no one fucks with my family.”

There was a silent ascent and even Suì-Fēng didn’t break that silence.


End file.
